


In The Name Of Science

by Kotik



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: F/F, F/M, Humor, Parody, Romance, Sexual Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-23
Updated: 2015-05-27
Packaged: 2018-03-25 09:58:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 24,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3806233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kotik/pseuds/Kotik
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A light-hearted view on what could have happened, if T'Pol had really decided to research human sexuality.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Artistic Value

**Author's Note:**

> Everybody thought that T'Pol's entry into Enterprise's 'night-life' began with the strange virus she was infected with in the second year of her mission. But it started way earlier and for completely different reasons.

T’Pol closed the communiqué and found it hard to reign in the frustration. Two years of thorough research had gone to waste, because due to her isolation from the home world while serving on the human vessel, she had not received the scientific bulletins that would have informed her about Doctor T’Lera’s progress in researching micro-singularities.

Her extensive paper on the subject had therefore not received the scientific attention she had hoped for. Instead of presenting a breakthrough on the subject, her findings had merely substantiated and validated the results of her fellow scientist. Although many would consider it an unseemly emotional indulgence, T’Pol was not satisfied being second. She needed a field of endeavor that would be guaranteed not to be explored by someone else.

The obvious choice would of course be a topic involving humans and their behavior, but to her surprise there were already many studies about the behavior and social interaction of humans. Many of those studies were less that thorough and poorly substantiated, but extending and correcting them would make her second yet again and that was totally unacceptable.

Even without researching every detail of human nature, she had soon noticed that two prominent facets of humanity were completely absent in the Vulcan database – religious beliefs and human sexuality. This was highly intriguing as they were obviously major parts of what defined humanity.

While religion had apparently lost much of its importance in the aftermath of Earth’s World War III, it had been the reason for many violent conflicts in recent centuries. Studying the subject would however be difficult as the crew members with active religious beliefs were a very small minority and she would therefore be restricted in the amount of data she would be able to collect.

What she would have data for in bountiful abundance was research on human sexuality and, unlike religion, the intimate interaction between humans was a very current fact of human life. The recent incident involving the heiress apparent of Krios Prime was testament that humans did need intimate contact and were obviously not prepared to restrict themselves to their own species to have their tensions eased.

While it would be ninety-nine point nine percept guaranteed that no other Vulcan scientist would pursue this field of research, if nothing else for lack of willing test subjects, she would also have to overcome the reasons for  her fellow scientist omitting such research so far. She would have to engage in sexual relations with humans. While most Vulcans would consider engaging in sexual relations for any other purpose than procreation or surviving the blood fever a distasteful and vulgar indulgence, it would be seen in scientific circles as a necessary empiric evaluation of her theories.

In a way she would continue a family tradition. Her mother was an esteemed expert on matters pertaining Vulcan mating practices and had – for her research – mated with at least thirty different Vulcan males varying in ancestry, build, experience and age. To preserve her privacy, details about her research methods were of course classified, but none of her colleagues would have considered the necessary practical validations of her hypotheses deviant in any way.

It would therefore be logical that she would mate with humans to substantiate her results. In Commander Tucker she would certainly find a willing test subject and perhaps it would help eradicate those unidentifiable and disagreeable foreign emotions she was subjected to, whenever she thought of the fact that the human and the disagreeable Kriosian female had mated with each other.

Although it was a completely unseemly thought, she experienced a certain irritation that, since the Commander was obviously interested in intimate contact with alien females, he had not even discussed or practiced the matter with the one alien female he had known for a long time – herself.

=/\=

Phlox’s face was split by a wide smile when he noticed the identity of his guest. He had seen this look of mild apprehension and insecurity on Subcommander T’Pol’s face before. It usually meant that she had the need for explanation, usually about some facets of human behavior she did not understand or – quite often recently – the behavior of a specific human, the ship’s chief engineer. In most cases unusually enlightening conversations would develop over the topic and he had gained more inside into Vulcans and their behavior as a result.

“What can I help you with, Subcommander?” His smile went even wider.

“Doctor, is it possible that we convene in your office? My request is of a most private nature.”

He indicated towards his small office and closed the door once they were inside. He sat down and looked at her expectantly. With her privacy ensured her apprehension subsided visibly.

“Doctor, I intend to study human sexuality in both theoretical and practical manners and I would be grateful for any guidance you may offer.”

“A very interesting field of endeavor,” the Denobulan answered. “May I suggest you ask Commander Tucker for assistance? He appears to be the human with the most … interest in the matter, shall we say?”

She did not comment on his suggestion, but the slight blush made it obvious that the young Vulcan had considered that train of thought before.

“I was interested in medical details, anatomical differences or health risks, doctor.”

“Oh, I would not be concerned about that,” the doctor said. “Humans and Vulcans cannot conceive without intervention by genetic engineering, so you don’t need to be concerned about an unwanted pregnancy. Except for very minor details, humans and Vulcans are anatomically perfectly compatible. The only noticeable difference is that the genitalia of most human males are slightly larger than those of a Vulcan, so you should make sure that whomever you engage in intercourse with applies the necessary finesse to avoid pain or even injury.”

“Thank you doctor,” she said drily, her eyes cast down on her PADD to maintain a professional distance to this immensely intimate topic. “Is there any advice you can give me in regards to starting my research. As a Denobulan you might be better qualified to advise me on the matter.”

The smile returned to his face.

“I would not quite rush into the practical details, Subcommander. It would help to first seek understanding of how humans approach the subject and what it means to them. I would start with researching the context of eroticism in an artistic context to understand the importance of the subject. If you need visual guidance on practical techniques; there is an artistic genre called pornography – although the term _art_ applies rather loosely in this context. There are pertinent recordings in the ship’s entertainment database, they can be… volatile, even overwhelming, but also… most enlightening.”

An amused smile graced his features when the Subcommander raised an interested eyebrow.

“Thank you doctor.”

“One last advice,” the Phlox interrupted her attempt to stand up and leave. “I urge you to consider the impact of your research on whomever you ask for assistance. While most heterosexual males will be quite willing, even enthusiastic, about the prospect of engaging in intercourse with an attractive female, you must make sure they understand the purpose. They might misinterpret the activity as romantic interest or even develop an emotional attachment to you.”

“How can I prevent any… repercussions.”

“Do not engage in anything intimate with a human partner if you have the impression that he or she is not fully aware of the purely scientific nature of the encounter. Even more care must be taken with a partner, who is attracted to you. Humans strictly distinguish between casual intimacy for the purpose of giving and receiving pleasure and sexual relations to express their affection. They even distinguish between the two in their language.”

He returned her nod of understanding and watched her leave.

He was surprised that the Subcommander was only now interested in the subject. His theory that she had experimented with sexual relations already had obviously been false.

=/\=

_Scientific log, Subcommander T’Pol, October 2 nd, 2152 human time, encryption code 4-9-1-5-1-7-7-5-5-8-7-9-3-Theta_

_According to the advice of Doctor Phlox I have started my research with the definition of Eroticism. The information on the subject in the human database is disagreeably vague and ambiguous, and Ensign Sato also failed to provide an explanation that would satisfy the standards of a scientific description._

_A constant in my findings is that the majority of artistic depictions, may they be drawings, statues or recorded images almost exclusively present the subject in a partial or complete state of undress. In many cases the subjects are often shown in poses that serve no other purpose than to emphasize in rare cases primary, but in most cases secondary sexual characteristics. According to an article in the Denobulan research material provided by the ship’s medical officer, there is a third option of invoking Eroticism by showing subjects in suggestive or semi-transparent attire, leaving the exact shape of the subject’s body to speculative images in the mind of the beholder._

_A human adage says “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. According to Ensign Sato’s explanation, there is no clear quantification for the attractiveness of a human. I shall therefore conduct an experiment to determine the attractiveness of my own physique in comparison to human females of different builds. This experiment will be registered as “Experiment E-1”._

_Purpose of the Experiment: Evaluation of different ideals of attractiveness in correlation to state of dress, physique and sexual orientation._

_Participants:_

_Doctor Phlox, Chief Medical Officer, assistant,_  
T’Pol, Subcommander, Science Officer, visual exhibit A (classification: build – trim, bust – medium)  
Sato, Ensign, Communications Officer, visual exhibit B (classification: build – slight, bust – small)  
Hess, Lieutenant, Deputy Chief Engineer, visual exhibit C (classification: build – muscular, bust – large)  
Noriega, Ensign, Assistant Weapons Officer, visual exhibit D (classification: build – portly, bust – medium)

_The following males have been authorized by the participants to observe their recordings regardless of their state of undress: Archer, Captain; Tucker, Commander; Reed Lieutenant; Maywheather, Ensign; Taylor, Lieutenant; Rostov, Crewman; Novakovic, Crewman_

_Execution: Each exhibit will be recorded three times in identical poses:_

_Recording One: Standing casually, attire: human suggestive clothing (‘lingerie’)_  
Recording Two: Sitting on chair, attire: lower half of clothing worn in  Recording One, torso bare.  
Recording Three: Lying on back, bust emphasized, vulva concealed by bent leg, attire: none

_Each of the male will be presented with all nine recordings and will be required to evaluate the relative attractiveness on a scale of zero to one-hundred. They will also be required to provide a short description of which detail they perceive as most attractive and most unattractive._

_Length of Experiment: Forty-eight hours._

=/\=

Commander Charles Tucker III was pacing in front of the Subcommander’s quarters. As if it wasn’t weird enough to be commenting on four naked women and their ‘relative attractiveness’, she now wanted to _discuss_ his evaluation.

Granted, the comments on Manuela Noriega had not been the most flattering, but hell, what was the point of doing an allegedly scientific experiment when the results would be expected to confirm to a certain expectation. Noriega (cheekily nickname “Tiny”) was a peach of a girl – funny, easy-going and quite comfortable in her shell, despite her BMI. But the fact of the matter was that her character was more attractive than her body and he wasn’t going to lie and he hadn’t been nasty or rude about it, just honest.

But something other was way more unsettling, and that was having seen T’Pol stark naked. He had been amused by the fact that T’Pol had classified her rack as ‘medium’ when she was probably only surpassed in size by Anna’s humongous jugs. He simply couldn’t get that picture out of his head. In fact the last night had been somewhat intense with very graphic dreams.

He was afraid that he would look at her with ‘X-ray eyes’ for some time, and as if that naked photo had not been enough to send his imagination through the roof; the topless one in the suspender belt and the sheer panties was hogging his thoughts incessantly.

And he wasn’t the only one. He wondered if Hoshi was aware of what she had done to Malcolm’s dreams.

Finally he calmed his nerves and pushed the button next to T’Pol’s door and opened it when she gave permission to enter. He had barely crossed the threshold when his jaw hit the deck like a ton of bricks. He stopped dead in his tracks.

“I’ll be damned!”


	2. Comparative Posterior Analysis

_Alright, this really t_ _a_ _k_ _es_ _the cake_ , he thought to himself. If she was going to chew him out for something, she had a very interesting idea to go about it. As his attempts not to dribble became more and more desperate, T’Pol looked at him as if it was completely normal that she would receive him without absolute nothing in regard to clothing - she was buck-ass naked.

“If you would close and lock the door, please, Commander?” she asked him without so much as raising an eyebrow about his stunned reaction.

Although his mind was currently hazy at best, he somehow managed to find the button and the door closed. In an unexpected feat of coherence he even managed to find the lock button.

“I-if I may state the obvious, Subcommander – you’re sort of n-naked.”

It sounded completely lame, and he stammered like a fifteen year old five minutes from losing his virginity, but it was just about the only thing his dazzled brain was able to formulate at the moment.

“Most perceptive, Commander; your vision is apparently unimpaired.”

Such a dry zinger – and she had fallen into a habit of delivering quite a few of those lately – would normally have been a source of much amusement, but at the moment he was too stunned to react in his usual manner. After the experiment had been concluded, the pictures had been locked away in the encrypted storage of the science department, so he had not thought he’d ever see this spectacularly gorgeous and simply perfectly shaped body without a uniform again – and now she stood before him in her birthday suit and this time she didn’t even bother to hide _anything_.

“If it isn’t too impolite; may I ask _why_ you’re naked?”

She regarded him with a look that would have seemed completely empty and impassioned to most of the crew, but he’d spent enough time with her to know that she was sort of amused. The slightly cocked right eyebrow gave it away.

“I had a certain suspicion about your most expressive evaluation of my images in the experiment. I wanted to make sure that you were really impacted substantially by the sight of my unclothed physique and not just following a false urge to compliment me.”

He stared at her blankly. If he didn’t know better that sounded like a very Vulcan (read: roundabout) way to say she needed confirmation that she was really as attractive as he had written in the form that came with the experiment.

“In addition,” she continued and he could see a slight greenish blush on her cheeks. “I noticed during the recording of the images and the immediate aftermath that not wearing clothing was a somewhat… invigorating sensation. Unfortunately the temperature is too low for a prolonged state of undress. Temperatures below twenty-nine degrees centigrade appear cold to Vulcans.”

“Nothing easier than that,” he said with a shrug, happy to be back in his element. He pointed at her environmental controls. “May I?”

=/\=

She would definitely need to meditate longer than usual before going to sleep. Presenting herself unclothed to the human had caused a torrent of unknown sensations, even arousal. The emotions stirred up by his strong reaction to the sight of her physique, which corroborated his answers in the experiment, were not at all unpleasant. But they were potent and unfamiliar.

The discovery of foregoing clothing and the unexpected invigoration the activity elicited had come completely randomly. For the experiment Phlox had visited each female in her quarters, but when he arrived to produce the recording of her body, Ensign Sato had been present providing explanations for several aspects of human behavior she did not understand. The decision had been made to record the young ensigns picture in situ as well.

After the doctor had left the young linguist had not dressed, but just continued their conversation in an unclothed state. Not wanting to appear demanding of certain conduct, she had mirrored the ensign’s choice until the low temperature had forced her to get dressed. This was when she made that discovery.

She looked up and saw Commander Tucker work on the environmental controls, but it didn’t escape her notice that the young human also kept looking at her occasionally in what he most likely thought to be a surreptitious manner. For a former operative those glances were however not very well concealed and to her surprise she found his interest in her physique not at all unpleasant, not even mildly.

“Commander, are you willing to assist me in interpreting the results of the experiment?”

Upon hearing her question, he put his tools down, which he seemed to carry everywhere in various pockets of his uniform. Why he wiped his palms clean on his uniform when he was supposed to provide a verbal answer eluded her understanding. Her mind emitted the unfamiliar, pleasant sensations again, when she noticed that he used the situation to inspect her physique again.

“I’m not sure the other guys would want me to know what they think about the girls. Malcolm told me, so we can discuss that, but I’m certainly not in a position to discuss the Capn’s beauty ideals.”

“All participants have agreed that the results could possibly be discussed with other participants. The only restriction is that none of the females will be informed of who provided which comment, with the obvious exception of me of course.”

“Alright, what do you want to know?” he asked and she saw him return to his work on her environmental control. She pressed the record button to save their conversation for later analysis.

“Seven months ago you and Lieutenant Reed were rescued from shuttlepod One and both of you were inebriated. When the Captain ordered me to investigate the shuttle’s voice recorder, I overheard a remark by Lieutenant Reed that hinted at a fascination with my posterior.”

He emitted a groan. “Please don’t tell him you know that. He’s stuck-up enough as he is.”

“However, in the experiment, Lieutenant Reed commented on my bust instead and identified the posterior of Ensign Sato as superior to mine. Are such preferences subject to frequent change?”

To her surprise, he turned around and was clearly amused. “He likes Hoshi’s tush the best because it’s Hoshi’s - simple as that. Malcolm’s hopelessly smitten with her. She could have three black teeth and he’d still say she has the nicest smile. That’s where your experiment fails to factor in the element of love. We have a sayin’ – love makes you blind.”

“Your perception of attractiveness changes when a male develops affection for a female? I believe that is what the word ‘smitten’ means, is it not?”

The Commander did not answer immediately. Instead he finished his work on the environmental controls after announcing a short delay to his answering her inquiry. The logical explanation was that his explanation was of a longer nature and he did not wish to present it in a state of alternating between his work and concentrating on their conversation.

Once he had finished his work and the temperature rose, which she acknowledged with a grateful nod, she indicated him to take a seat and she noticed that he took the time for another appraisal of her unclothed form. He had now been able to observe her for seventeen point six minutes and his fascination with her physique appeared to be unchanged in its intensity, although his initial confusion and surprise seemed to have been replaced by a state of relative contentment. She memorized these thoughts for later recording.

“Look,” he started his explanation and she noticed an even more pronounced urge than usual on the Commander’s part to support his speech with hand gestures. “I’m not a behavioral scientist, but I would bet that all of the guys in that experiment had a unique taste in whom they found most attractive and why.”

“There were indeed no major similarities in any of the results,” she agreed, but then remembered that she was violating a major custom of human hospitality. She immediately sought to correct that oversight. “Before we continue, do you wish for a refreshment?”

“Well, I could use a bit of water or something, now that the temperature in here starts gettin’ quite cozy.”

She stood and walked to her chest of drawers. With interest she noticed that the inevitable movement of her bust – his main focus when he observed her – caused his pupils to dilate slightly. Movement could apparently increase the visual impact of a body parts’ shape on the perception of a human. It would be an explanation for why many depictions of nude human females involved lifting or slight squeezing of their own bust.

His reaction turned to a mixture of positive surprise and contentment when he realized that the offered refreshment was a moderately alcoholic beverage called ‘beer’, a beverage she had seen him consume with a certain preference at the few festive occasions the crew had had in the past nineteen months.

“I can unfortunately not offer a glass or mug,” she apologized, but his amusement indicated that the absence of such a container was apparently not an infringement of hospitality etiquette.

“Don’t worry, I was a bottle-baby,” he explained with obvious mirth radiating from his mind. He raised the bottle in salute and enjoyed the offered beverage straight from the bottle. She doubted severely that the current situation was in some way indicative that he had been a weanling in early infancy. In fact it was most likely a fabrication and the Commander’s usual way of indicating unconcern by using a colorful analogy.

“Anyway,” he continued, remembering his task of providing a theory on her question. “There is a reason that different guys have different tastes. If we’d all be the same, you’d end up with millions of guys going after the same girl or all girls only being interested in one guy. Even as an engineer I can see that that wouldn’t be the most effective reproductive strategy.”

His last statement was of course logical. The different interpretations of attractiveness seemed to be part of an evolutionary strategy.

“But if the relative attractiveness of a human’s physique determines the potential selection of a mate, why did Lieutenant Reed’s preferred shape of posterior change? There are distinct differences in shape between Ensign Sato’s derrière and mine.”

His statement “I can’t believe I’m discussing Hoshi’s butt with our science officer”, which was muttered in a mixture of abashment and disbelieving amusement, was apparently not meant for conversational purposes and T’Pol waited while he consumed some of the beverage in a bid to gain time for composing himself.

“It’s not a solid scientific theory,” he qualified his impending explanation preemptively. “But that’s how it worked with me. First of all, it’s not only the body or how much or little clothing it is concealed with. The character and your relationship to the other person matter, too. I mean, you know that I’ve described you as the most attractive one.”

She acknowledged that fact with a nod.

“I've known you're the most beautiful creature I've ever seen since I first saw you. Just a couple days later, when we got back from Rigel X, we were in decon rubbing stuff all over each other in decon, so I got an even better idea of what you look like. The thing is though, had you done that experiment back then, I’d probably have said Anna was the most attractive, because it isn’t only the body, but the personality as well. Back in the day I didn’t know the first thing about you and your impassioned way was a huge turn-off, as it made you appear arrogant and condescending. Anna is easy-going, a good friend; that made up for the divergence of her body from my idea of a perfect woman. That make sense?”

“You are trying to say, returning to the topic of Lieutenant Reed’s preference, that in theory my derrière is still closest to his ideal, but her personality in connection with her physique and his obvious affection for her make Ensign Sato more attractive to him and he therefore assigns less emphasis on conformance of her physique to his theoretical ideal.”

“Couldn’t have said it better,” he explained, having finished consuming his beverage.

“Your explanations were most helpful, Commander,” she offered her gratitude. “Are you gifted in art forms like drawing or sculpturing?”

“Gifted is a bit much, I liked to draw sketches when I was younger, still do it when preparing engineering reports, but these days it's mainly engine parts.”

“Would you consent to produce drawings in an experimental context to further assist in my research?”

“Sure, no problem.”

“Then I would like to ask you to return here on Tuesday nineteen-hundred or give me advance notice if the time has to be changed.”

“No problem,” he repeated and pointed at the empty bottle. “Thanks for the beer, much appreciated. Want me to dispose of it?”

“That would be most thoughtful. Thank you for your assistance.”

This conversation had indeed been enlightening not only as far as her studies were concerned. It had given her a most interesting insight into the mind and character of Commander Tucker. He was a most intelligent individual and apparently he was quite willing to speak candidly about his intimate thoughts when he could justify doing so as a scientific endeavor.

Most fascinating…

 


	3. Drawing Conclusions

_Scientific Log, Subcommander T’Pol, October 2 nd, 2152 human time, encryption code 4-9-1-5-1-7-7-5-5-8-7-9-3-Theta_

_In an attempt to validate hypothesis H-9a, I have devised comparative experiment E-2_

_Purpose of the Experiment:_

_Evaluation of biological reaction of a human male in correlation to the relative attraction to a female._

_Participants:_

_Phlox, Civilian, Chief medical officer, medical data acquisition_  
T’Pol, Subcommander, Science officer, visual exhibit A, classification: highly attractive to study participant (ref. Experiment E-1)  
Sato, Ensign, Communications officer, visual exhibit B, classification: averagely attractive to study participant (ref. Experiment E-1)  
Tucker, Commander, Chief Engineer, study participant

_Execution:_

_To evaluate the biological reaction of the study participant to the relative attractiveness of a female, select biological parameters will be monitored while producing a visual likeness of a female subject. The monitored parameters are: heart race, blood pressure, neurological activity in brain regions pertaining sexual stimulus, blood flow in corpora cavernosa._

_Commander Tucker has consented to conduct the experiment in an unclothed state to facilitate easier monitoring of vital data. In order to avoid interference with the data by the impact of being exposed to the view of the subjects he shall portrait, he will conduct his work behind a privacy screen while the image of the subject is directly transferred to a screen in front of him._

=/\=

According to the mild protestations of Commander Tucker she had heard from behind the privacy screen when Doctor Phlox attached the various sensors, she surmised that he was not entirely comfortable with the situation, most likely because at least one sensor had to be attached to a most intimate region.

Ensign Sato was kneeling in a typical pose considered ‘erotic’ by humans. Three cameras were directed at her from different angles, which would allow Commander Tucker to select different perspective views on the ensign's body to facilitate a satisfactory visual result.

Convincing the ship’s communications officer had been surprisingly easy. Apparently, like all female participants in the first experiment, she was sufficiently confident in her appearance to present herself for visual appraisal in a state of nudity. Obviously she was also sufficiently comfortable in Commander Tucker’s presence.

The ship’s chief engineer had assured them that he would need no longer than one hour to produce a drawing and therefore the young linguist had expressed confidence in her ability to hold a steady pose for that period of time.

She could hear the soft impact sounds whenever he touched the digital canvas with the electronic pen. The Commander had expressed a desire to use genuine paper and a pencil; however the quartermaster had been unable to provide the necessary materials. As a result however, she could observe the process from outside the privacy screen.

Her monitor showed the vital data on the right side and the development of the drawing on the left. Apparently the Commander was using a fairly interesting method, which started with a series of basic shapes – circles, ellipses and lines, which at best represented ensign Sato’s approximate proportions and step-by-step he started to refine the details until, after nineteen point four minutes, he had produced a surprisingly detailed and accurate outline of the ensign’s body, however it was completely hollow and she could see that he employed the same refining method for various details, like the young female’s face.

The Vulcan observed the vital data and noticed a distinct increase in heart rate, when the Commander started adding the outline of Ensign Sato’s bust. The increased blood flow to the experimentee’s corpora cavernosa suggested the onset of a penile erection, however, according to Doctor Phlox’s preprogrammed reference data, it could at best have been partial and had subsided after two point one minutes, even though the commander was still working on minute details of the subject’s mammary features.

=/\=

Approaching an estimated time of fourty-eight point seven minutes, the Commander had practically finished the portrait with the exception that he had completely avoided any details of the subject’s pubic region. And he appeared reluctant to do so as the pen movements retained their accuracy, but were much more tentative.

She noticed the indication of a beginning erection, which took substantially longer to subside, but the other vital data suggested general discomfort, at least this was the highest ranked automated diagnosis of the computer system, interpreting the brain’s neurological activity. Earlier diagnostic runs, while he was painting the bust, had been interpreted by the heuristic algorithm as general comfort and moderate arousal.

The final authority to interpret the scans would lie with Doctor Phlox, of course.

=/\=

 _Someone’s pretty curious,_ Trip thought as he saw T’Pol’s almost desperate attempts to keep the monitor display in sight while not destroying the pose. He concentrated hard on working out the delicate details of her perfect boobs, even zooming in to get the subtle nuances right, like the tiny shadow cast by her nipples due to the lighting.

It was the weirdest thing sitting here butt naked with a sensor tacked to his organ, knowing that she could not only tell that he was getting hard, but also _how_ hard. But then this was not only down to the fact that he was currently drawing the most perfect body he’d ever seen, some of his arousal came definitely from the fact that it hadn’t escaped his notice that her nipples were standing out much more pronounced than earlier. She was getting turned on by modeling for him and that definitely fed back to his own excitement.

But for the moment he forced himself to concentrate on his drawing. Hoshi’s picture had worked out quite well, so well in fact that she’d planted a kiss on him and asked to get a copy of it. When the ship’s coms officer had left he had know quite well which tactical officer would soon find a pleasant surprise in his in-box.

But that of course meant he’d have to spend even more concentration on this one. He wouldn’t forgive himself if T’Pol’s portrait would not come out absolutely perfect. So he ignored his raging hard-on and got on with the job.

=/\=

“Alright, T’Pol, I’m done,” he announced from behind the privacy screen. From observing the monitoring data she knew that he wasn’t entirely truthful. The completion of the drawing was in fact three point six minutes in the past, but according to the data he had waited for the remission of the penile erection, that had persisted for most of the time of working on her likeliness, before announcing the end of the experiment. She felt no need to make this moderate deception a matter of discussion as she could understand his motives and his further cooperation would also depend on the fact that he would not be too inconvenienced by the various experiments.

“You may now remove the sensors, Commander. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.”

“Was a pleasure, literally,” he replied and she could hear the pronounced undercurrent of amusement in his voice.

“Are you willing to assist me in a preliminary assessment of the results?”

“Do I get a beer out of it?”

She noticed the humorous nature of his question. According to what she had learned about the behavioral pattern of Commander Tucker, he did indeed consent to assist, but used his amused remark to indicate that in future instances he would not require but certainly appreciate a symbolic reward in the form of being served his favorite beverage. Fortuitously she had foreseen this situation and had procured a cooler and an appropriate supply of the refreshment.

“I suspect you have already noticed the cooler next to the bathroom door, Commander. Its content is at your free disposal. “

“Yeah, but self-service without permission is impolite,” he replied still amused and stepped out from behind the privacy screen. The ship’s chief engineer was still completely unclothed and removed a bottle from the cooler.

She raised an intrigued eyebrow. She was of course quite familiar with the commander’s build. Human males wore nothing but their underpants in the decontamination chamber. But now she was able to observe that one last detail missing.

What immediately grabbed her attention was the esthetically pleasingly defined gluteus maximus of the ship’s chief engineer, which was emphasized when he bent down to open the cooler.

“You okay with that?” he asked, indicating along the length of his unclothed body. “It’s a bit cozy in here.”

There was no logic in demanding that he dressed immediately, considering that she was still nude herself and the ambient temperature was indeed fairly high for a human. It was of course nothing that would need disclosure, but she found the opportunity to study the Commander’s build some more a not at all unpleasant opportunity.

“I’m not really a scientist, Subcommander, but aren’t your experiments so far a bit one-sided? I can only compare it to my own job, but when I install a bi-directional plasma pipe, I have to check that the stream is stable in both directions.”

“A reversal of the first experiment is planned for next week and I was about to ask if you would consent to model for a reversal of this experiment.”

His face was split by a smile. Most fellow Vulcans would consider such an expression of emotion distasteful, but she had come to appreciate this expression and the Commander’s laughter as two of the more endearing facets of his personality.

“Do I get to know if I'm planned as the 'averagely attractive' or the 'highly attractive' exhibit?”

She noticed an unfamiliar heat in her face. It was obvious that the Commander wanted to extort intimate information from her but, to use human vernacular, it was 'only fair' to provide the data. The humans, who had been part of her experiments had willingly provided even most intimate details and a scientific discourse was only possible if information were not withheld.

“My evaluation is of course preliminary as I have yet to see the other male subjects for experiment 1-Beta, but based on data gathered in the decontamination chamber, I would be inclined to quantify your appearance as highly attractive. Your musculature is most agreeably, defined, especially the pattern that results from your _musculus rectus abdominis_ and its divisions by _intersection_ _e_ _s tendine_ and the _linea alba_.”

“The what?” he asked, but his laughing was apparently caused by confusion and incredulity rather than amusement.

“If I may request your permission to touch you, I may point out the region I referred to,” she replied and he nodded and walked over to her. He came to stand in front of her.

“This is the _musculus rectus abdmoninis_ ,” she explained at let her palm glide over his abdomen. She found it hard to keep her breathing to a normal pattern as the sensation of touching him while he was completely unclothed stirred powerful emotions in her, but she willed herself to concentrate on her explanation. With reluctance she ended the physical touch.

“So you like six-packs,” he explained and returned to his seat across the room. T’Pol experienced an unexpected disappointment that he had not insisted on being allowed to touch her.

“My evaluation of your relative attractiveness was of course not finished yet. My estimation so far only included your physique. For reasons of completeness it needs to be said that your personality plays a major part as well and – most important to a Vulcan female – for reasons I have not yet been able to determine, you are the only human aboard whose scent does not affect me negatively.“

“Maybe you've just gotten used to me,” he said and his facial expression made it obvious to her that he was most pleased with her appraisal of his attractiveness. “We've been doing quite a lot of stuff together over the last year. I'd go as far as sayin' we've become friends. Feels like it to me.”

“It is a theory worth considering,” she answered and tried to emulate the specific undertone in her voice that was most successful in eliciting amusement in him.“

  



	4. Carissima Mater Mea

_Scientific Log, Subcommander T’Pol, 15th October 2152, Personal Supplement_

_At this time all experiments are on hold as Commander Tucker is currently still in sickbay, where he recovers from the injuries he sustained when he was marooned on a desert planet with an initially hostile Arkonian._

_The Reversals of Experiments 1 and 2, respectively registered in the supplemental data as 1-B and 2-B have meanwhile been concluded using archived footage of the Commander’s unclothed physique. Apparently, the ship’s chief engineer is significantly less inhibited as many of his human crew mates and often removes all clothing when he is forced to use the decontamination chamber alone or in company of like-minded humans, like Lieutenant Hess._

_Especially for experiment 2-B this turn of event proved fortuitous, as I suspect, had he been physically present, the commander would have been less than impressed with the quality of art that ensign Sato and I produced._

_It is not a conclusion that I am inclined to add to my official documentation, but I find it increasingly difficult to separate the scientific elements from my personal desires. In fact I have to admit that I am still looking for a method to style experiments 3 and 3-B in a way that allows me to receive personal comfort while still being scientifically accurate. I will need to increase my meditation or perhaps I shall ask if Commander Tucker is willing to repeat some of the experiments. The pretense of needing extra data for statistical viability would be a suitable way to conceal my entirely selfish desires behind a believable scientific explanation._

_Doctor Phlox has reminded me that so far my experiments have been entirely limited to sight and are therefore less than conclusive. He cited the sense of touch and the olfactory sense as equally if not more important to human sexuality._

_Since touch is a difficult topic among Vulcans, I decided to limit my experimentation to Commander Tucker, as there are only three male crew members I would have been comfortable enough with to perform such an intimate routine. Captain Archer has declined to cooperate, citing that he would be unable to uphold the necessary professional distance if he were to be involved in such intimate endeavors._

_Lieutenant Reed also does not wish to participate. I respect his explanation that he is not able to reconcile intimate contact with another female with his conscience in regard to his apparent attraction to Ensign Sato._

_It was surprising to hear that the ship’s communication officer would not have perceived the Lieutenant’s participation as an act of betrayal, but she explained that it would take an inordinate amount of time to overcome the tactical officer’s inhibitions. Strangely however, Lieutenant Reed was not troubled by the thought that Ensign Sato would be participating in the experiment herself. I cannot discern a logical connection in Mr. Reed’s decisions, but considering the intimacy of the topic, I chose to accept his reasoning without questioning it._

_I have assembled and transmitted an encrypted message with early results of my studies to my esteemed mother. To say that our relations in recent years have been somewhat strained, would no doubt be classified as ‘the understatement of the century’ by Commander Tucker. I do however have the hope that our joint scientific interests will be a way to reconnect with my maternal ancestor._

=/\=

Now that the Arkonian had been returned to his ship, Phlox wondered if his Pyrinthian bat would manage to devour its evening meal before the ship’s science officer would appear for the first time to inquire about Commander Tucker’s condition. His face was split by an impossibly wide grin when he realized he had not even been able to finish the thought.

The door swooshed open and the resident Vulcan marched in purposefully. Since she would now be more comfortable without the Arkonian nearby, he expected that she would need an excuse to stay longer than on earlier visits and he had prepared one. He had no doubt that the Commander would definitely prefer to have the burn ointment applied by the Subcommander’s capable hands.

“Ah, excellent timing, if you would be willing to help me, Subcommander?” he said, pretending that she had come in at a fortuitous moment. “If you could take it upon yourself to apply this ointment to the Commander’s torso? It would be a big help.”

“Do I need a nasal inhibitor?”

Phlox smiled to himself. She had not for a second debated whether or not to take on the task, merely the technical details.

“It’s odorless, Subcommander. Oh, and between neck and waist-line is sufficient,” he added cheerily, just for the case that the two officers had progressed further in their ‘research’ than he had been privy to through his assisting role in some of the experiments.

=/\=

Their conversation had been conducted with lowered voices, but so far T’Pol’s keen hearing had registered that Doctor Phlox had kept himself to the opposite side of sickbay, most likely to give them the necessary privacy – a most thoughtful measure.

“Aw, that’s so much better when you do that.”

The Commander’s appraisal of her technique was confirmed by his obvious contentment. His eyes were closed; his face was a mien of comfort despite the likely still painful widespread sunburn of his skin.

“There is only one viable technique to apply ointment to another individual’s skin,” she corrected him, but he opened his eyes and looked up to her.

“Lesson one: Touching a Human. It’s not how you touch, but who. Wasn’t that the idea behind your next experiment?”

“I have not yet finalized a conclusive experimentation setup. Do you have a proposal?”

“Sure,” he replied and sat up. She indicated him to draw back his shoulders to make it easier for her to anoint his chest and abdomen.

“You need two blindfolds. I think Phlox should have some for patients with eye injuries. That way your results won’t be influenced by visual clues. Then you and your partner – I volunteer most enthusiastically by the way – take turns explorin’ the other’s body just by touch and smell. You can then compare it to the results of the visual experiments.

She did not comment on his ‘enthusiastic volunteering’, as that was practically what she’d hoped the most for.

“Since it involves smell, wouldn’t that necessitate foregoing the application of deodorants?”

“Certainly does,” he confirmed. “Obviously for us humans it means taking a shower right beforehand and you might want to lower the temperature to avoid us puny beings sweating like pigs. No in fact perhaps we should even sweat a bit.”

She looked at him with a curiously raised eyebrow.

“Remember when you told me that you don’t know why my scent doesn’t bother you?”

She nodded.

“Humans are not too different from Vulcans in that regard. You might wanna ask Hoshi, but I think it is German, where the phrase for two people, who can’t stand each other, is ‘They can’t stand each other’s smell’, and in Standard we sometimes say ‘The chemistry between them isn’t right’.”

“Two humans who have no reason for antipathy based on their visual appearance and character might be antagonized by their body odor?”

He nodded. “I’m just tryin’ to remember my biology lessons.”

She gave him the time to think, realizing that she was still gliding her palm over his _musculus rectus abdominis,_ or ‘sixpack’ as he had named that particular arrangement of muscle mass. Since the Commander was giving away no sign of discomfort, on the contrary, she continued the movement despite a growing self-consciousness about her decision.

“Ah, got it. Everybody has a specific body odor and when it comes to intimate matters, we subconsciously look for a partner who smells differently, because close relatives smell similar and that way we can avoid inbreeding, even if we don’t know that we’re close relatives. However, it can happen that you meet a partner, who looks gorgeous, is funny to be with, but if you end up in bed the buck stops, because the smell isn’t right.”

“I understand,” she said, but left out that the Commander’s explanation had left her thoroughly unsettled. She already knew that even when he was transpiring, his scent was agreeable to her, even arousing at times. But if she was to conduct the experiment the commander  suggested; what if a close olfactory exploration of her body would lead to the finding that ‘the chemistry was wrong’ between the two of them?

Unsettled by the thought, she thanked the Commander for his help and under the pretense of having to document her findings, she hurriedly left sickbay.

=/\=

Somehow she could not shake the impression that Ensign Sato had seen through her reasons for inquiring about human intimate hygiene. At least she had now a quite logical explanation for her observation that all human females in the first experiment had reduced their pubic hair to very minimal remnants or removed it altogether like Ensign Sato and Lieutenant Hess.

It had been a thoroughly humiliating (and also fairly painful) process to have ensign Rao, a certified cosmetologist, apply a therapy called ‘Brazilian Wax’, but at least she was now no longer at a hygienic and esthetic disadvantage to the human females aboard.

The worry about a possible olfactory incompatibility to Commander Tucker was still unsettling, but at least she had done all there was to do and she could now concentrate on the answer she had received from her mother.

_My esteemed daughter,_

_I was positively surprised that you have decided to use your obvious adaption to life among so many humans for scientific purposes. However, I must admit I would have preferred that you chose a different facet of human interaction as your field of scientific endeavor. There are countless of non-satisfactory studies that you could have extended upon by using your extensive experience in interacting with our still immature allies._

_Of course I do not wish to be branded for possessing a double standard, considering that I dedicated most of my professional career to the studies of our own intimate practices, but what possible purpose does it serve to research mating practices between two races that cannot naturally interbreed?_

_I do have the hope that you might reconsider the scope of your research and to help you with that, I attach a recent study by Professor V’Narek into the concept of human romanticism, which I find thoroughly dissatisfactory and full of unfounded and poorly researched theories. Perhaps you would consider extending upon his work?_

_Greetings, your Mother._

It was the expected reply, but T’Pol had to admit that she had expected much stronger censure from her mother. In that regard the first communication had been a fair success and she decided to continue the exchange, but challenge her mother a little further.

_My revered mother,_

_It was agreeable to notice that the censure in your latest communication was fairly limited by your standards. However, I must respectfully disagree with your dismissal of my field of research. Even though I’m still fairly early in my envisioned studies, I have already found several aspects of human intimate practices that would well apply to mating among our own kind, if one looks beyond the purpose of procreation._

_Perhaps a practical demonstration would make this obvious to you. If my calculations are correct, the yearly drought and heat wave should soon arrive in our home region, and if you have not changed your customary behavior, you still have a predilection for disrobing in the midday heat instead of risking a heat stroke._

_What I dismissed fervently in my youth due to a false sense of shame (and I paid for it with two substantial heat strokes) I have found to be a most invigorating activity. But the really enlightening discovery was that this sense of invigoration is even amplified if you find yourself under visual scrutiny of someone who is attracted to you._

_So if you should still possess the temerity of your youth, I shall challenge you to ‘forget’ to raise the additional privacy screens the next time you tend to the_ Na’ru _vines in a state of undress and therefore expose yourself to the risk of being seen by our widowed neighbor, Excellency V’Dor, who as far as I know shares your strategy of coping with the oppressive heat at the height of summer._

_You always made a conscious effort to suppress any outward sign of it, but to a third party it is fairly obvious that both of you are attracted to the other. As a Vulcan you might expect that he is scandalized by being exposed to the sight of your unclothed physique, but I am confident enough in my findings that you might be faced with a result that you did not expect and it will be a finding that resulted from studying our human allies – who are not as immature as you might presume._

_Respectfully, your daughter._


	5. 'Cause Everytime We Touch

_Scientific Log, Subcommander T’Pol, October 22 nd 2152_

_‘Cause every time we touch_ _  
I get this feeling_ _  
And every time we kiss_ _  
I swear I could fly_ _  
Can't you feel my heart beat fast?_ _  
I want this to last_ _  
Need you by my side_

_  
'Cause every time we touch_ _  
I feel ecstatic_ _  
And every time we kiss_ _  
I reach for the sky_ _  
Can't you hear my heart beat so?_ _  
I can't let you go_ _  
Want you in my life_

_This fragment of auditory disorder is an example of human music from more than one hundred fifty years ago. Ignoring the acoustic bedlam, however, and concentrating on the meaning of the lyrics, it is easy to see that touch for humans is by no means the inconsequential matter that Vulcans have always assumed._

_While casual touch, like human hand shakes, a custom born from their savage past, are customary, many humans do not wish to be touched by strangers any more than a Vulcan would. My perception of human touch has been somewhat skewed by the fact that Commander Tucker was always quick to initiate physical contact, mainly small gestures, like putting his hand on my back or shoulder when required to look at a readout while being positioned behind me._

_With the help of Ensign Sato I have established that these frequent light contacts are signs of the Commander’s desire to maintain a non-blood-related relationship called ‘friendship’. It is, in some ways comparable to what Vulcans refer to as close acquaintances, but the human concept extends significantly._

-=/\=-

T’Pol called up the latest communication from her mother and for reasons beyond her understanding she felt a completely unseemly curiousness about whether or not her mother had accepted the challenge she’d issued.

_My revered, but also fairly unruly daughter,_

_Due to the intimate topics of this communication, I suggest you transfer it to your secure storage._

_Your latest communication was unsettling to say the least. I still remember (more vividly than desirable) how I had to rush you to the medical ward in the aftermath of a heat-stroke because you were too obstinate to ‘ditch the frock’ (I believe that is the somewhat amusing sounding way the human exchange students at the academy refer to the act of disrobing)._

_However, learning that you now spend your time in a state of undress, not out of necessity, but for frivolous reasons like invigoration, has unsettled me to a degree. And then there is the little matter of your claim that the invigoration is amplified by being observed by someone who is attracted to you. Unless I have been misinformed, you are still the only Vulcan aboard the human vessel. Do I take that as an indication that one of the humans has become infatuated with you? I most impatiently expect your answer. (Even if that might be somewhat unseemly, of course)_

_For lack of appropriate vernacular in our own language, I find myself again in need of lending a phrase from our human allies – you are ‘wicked’. For reasons I cannot yet explain I accepted your illogical challenge and our revered neighbor V’Dor was ‘accidentally’ exposed to my unclothed physique. It was the first time that I have seen someone salivating – at the height of summer, when water preservation is what our bodies are evolutionarily programmed for. While I admit that his attention (and obvious arousal) was a not at all disagreeable experience; was it necessary to risk a cardiovascular episode for our revered neighbor?_

_You might be interested in the fact that we have spent quite a sizeable amount of time lately and it appears that he might finally abandon his reluctance to seek out another mate, and according to my preliminary theory his preferred candidate strikes a surprisingly close resemblance to me._

_In this regard, your unseemly challenge might be forgiven, but I would wish to ask you to warn me in the future of those ‘unexpected results’ you spoke of. It appears that I may have triggered his pon-farr, or at least a so far unknown variant of it. The recent nights have been somewhat… spirited._

_Your slightly exhausted, but quite content mother._

T’Pol rued the fact that she could not allow herself to laugh. She had never known her mother as someone who possessed a sense of humor, but evidently she’d been in error about that, or perhaps T’les had simply been more open to learning from the human exchange students at the academy.  

Of course the substantial shift in the so far distanced relations between her mother and neighbor V’Dor were not surprising. Both had lost their mates to skirmishes with the Andorians at a faily young age and both had been interested in each other for many years, but for reasons unknown had never started to mediate a betrothal. Well, her mother’s ‘oversight’ seemed to have resolved that illogical impasse.

It was fortunate that Vulcans did not continually decline in appearance and strength at the same rate that other species did. At 129 years of age her mother was still an esthetically fairly pleasing specimen, if perhaps slightly portly, but she had no doubt that the newly found male interest in her would motivate T’Les to increase her efforts at personal fitness.

_My revered and hopefully still content mother,_

_It gives me an entirely unseemly sensation of triumph to see that my theory worked exactly the way I had predicted. I attach two recordings from my personal supplement to the studies that I allow you to listen to. However it is my hope that I do not need to remind you that these recordings are to be treated with utmost confidentiality. They will help you understand my motivation for issuing the challenge and which findings led to my prediction about the consequences of your actions._

_I must admit that I cannot understand your misgivings about the fact that one of the humans has become attracted to me. I never thought of myself as esthetically displeasing, so what exactly surprises you in regards to this matter? And as a fellow researcher in the matter of sexual relations, you must of course be aware that my research will eventually lead to practicing intercourse with a human partner. It might not be met with your approval, but I actually look forward to intimate contact with Commander Tucker for the simple reason that he does not only willingly assists in my studies. He also appears most interested in making the experience most agreeable to me, while other human males would most likely just seek their own satiety in disregard of my specific needs._

_Regarding matters of your ‘spirited’ encounters with our neighbor, I can assure you that you have not triggered anything worse than his interest in you. The male pon-farr might have once been an evolutionary necessity, but I have discovered fairly early in my research that the desire to matein both genders is easily triggered by simple stimuli like the sight of an unclothed body as long as it is sufficiently pleasing to look at, so you might wish to avoid testing this theory on some of your more seasoned acquaintances. I would therefore advise that you do not expect V’Dor’s intimate interest in you to subside as long as he occasionally gets exposed to the sight of your unclothed physique, which he most likely will, because you have no doubt discovered how unseemly, but agreeable a sensation it is to expose yourself for his benefit._

_I shall now end my communication as I need to disrobe. Commander Tucker will arrive in a matter of minutes. In contrast to the captain’s dinner, he is never late when I ask him to assist in my research._

_Your ‘wicked’ daughter_

-=/\=-

He grinned when she asked him to come in. He could definitely get used to the fact that she was expecting him completely naked. She was standing with her back to him and he took a minute to enjoy the sight of her insanely shapely bottom. The fact that the temperatures of her quarters wouldn’t be out of place in the Gobi desert was a clear enough hint that she did not expect _his_ clothing to stay on his frame for any length of time either. To preserve their little intimate secret, he pressed the lock button when the door had closed.

“Please stay were you are and disrobe,” she instructed calmly, still not turning around.

“Done,” the ship’s chief engineer reported, curious what this ‘shy’ spiel was all about. He saw her turn around and he didn’t even try to hide that he was checking her out. But suddenly his eyes went wide and another body part went rigid in record time.

“I’ll be damned!”


	6. Touch Me!

Subcommander T’Pol resisted the urge to vocalize her relief with a sigh. If the removal of the only body hair that Vulcans had left below the head could cause such a strong positive reaction by visual stimulus already, it made it more likely that the experiment would not end in the disappointment she was afraid of. In fact she was quite convinced that the Commander would find a way to make the experience even more agreeable than she was expecting. He had done so for all experiments so far.

Her thoughts went back to the early days of the ship’s mission, specifically the time she’d spent with the commander in the decontamination chamber after the away mission on Rigel X. Even though her relations to the ship’s chief engineer had still been of a mostly antagonistic nature at that time, she quite vividly remembered the intensity of the Commander’s touch when he had explored her physique much more thoroughly than the application of Doctor Phlox’s balm strictly required.

Had he known what his gentle caressing of her ears had done to her composure?

For the moment there was a somewhat awkward silence though as both of them inspected each other’s physique and she was quite sure he was as eager to start the experiment as she was even though T’Pol was not yet sure how the fact of being blindfolded would affect her. She had been deprived of her vision during the away mission on _Paan Mokar_ , and she did not remember the experience as particularly pleasant.

To break the silence she decided to broach the subject of her cosmetic change to her appearance.

“I take it the decision to remove my pubic hair has influenced my appearance in a positive manner?” she asked and diverted her glance towards the cooler in which she had stored refreshments for them.

With satisfaction she noticed that he did not immediately collect a beverage. Instead he took the bottle of wine, opened its screw-top and served her a drink in the plastic cup provided with the bottle. It was not her usual practice to consume alcoholic beverages, but during the first part of the experiment, conducted with Ensign Sato the day before, it had helped to make her less tense and overcome the mild discomfort of being touched in intimate places by the human female.

Once he had settled with his beverage, the Commander gave the answer she had been waiting for.

“Well, as you can see,” he said, pointing at his crotch. “I’m preferring the smooth option myself, but you shouldn’t take that as a scientific finding. There are people and whole cultures, who consider pubic hair erotic. In fact Hoshi is a bit unusual for a Japanese in that regard.”

“So there are humans, who would regard the removal as detrimental to my appearance,” she stated in search for clarification. When the engineer confirmed her statement with a nod, she entered the information in her PADD for later inclusion into her research paper.

They settled into silence again, both consuming their beverages. She was surprised that the Commander was still fully erect, but did not seem to be discomforted by this open manifestation of his arousal. Considering that she had effectively hoped for such an impact on him, T’Pol found it quite satisfying.

“So, how did it go with Hoshi?” he inquired about the first part of the experiment, calmly drinking his refreshment.

“It appeared to have been a much more agreeable experience for the ensign than it was for me. I found the use of blindfolds rather… unsettling. Being deprived of a major sense is quite disconcerting.”

“It’s pretty important though,” he argued. “How are you going to research the importance of touch and smell, if those inputs are overridden by the one sense which at least we humans rely on the most? On the other hand, if it makes you too uncomfortable, it may influence the results just as well. Maybe you shouldn’t be doing that experiment at all.”

“I believe I can manage, commander,” T’Pol added hastily, hoping he wouldn’t notice how disagreeable the thought of abandoning this part of the experiment was to her.

“Well then, Subcommander,” he said with a smile. “Why don’t we start ‘managing’?”

She got up and to her surprise he fished something out of the pocket of his discarded uniform. She wondered why there was a visible blush on his face. But then she recognized the item.

“Commander, we do not plan to engage in intercourse. I can see no need for condoms. And even if we would, there would be no need as you cannot impregnate me.”

“I know,” he answered, still visibly embarrassed. “But when you… um… touch certain parts of me, there could be a messy surprise and I don’t want to have stuff end up on your floor. It’s been a while since I had… ‘my tensions eased’ as you like to put it.”

She took the rubber item from him. “My floor is made of solid tritatium alloy Commander, so unless your ejaculate is acidic, any mishap would merely lead to me asking you to clean up after yourself.”

With an entirely unseemly sensation of triumph, she could see him blush some more. For reasons she could not explain, the sight of the commander’s discolored face was agreeable. Ensign Sato had used the adjective ‘cute’ to describe it.

She stood behind her test subject and carefully fixed the blindfold to his head before doing so herself. With a voice command she started the camera to record the experiment, as for obvious reasons she would not be able to take notes. 

Carefully she let her finger tips glide up the Commander’s neck and started exploring his features while standing behind him. The first aspect she noticed was the clarity of his emotional state through the touch-telepathic contact. This had not been the case with Ensign Sato, leading her to the conclusion that the ship’s chief engineer entered the experience completely open-minded… and highly aroused.

Of course, as much had been obvious before she had obstructed their vision, but now she could clearly sense the emotional state he was in, and it was a revelation. The level of affection she was faced with upon her touch was unexpected to say the least. She had been suspecting for some time that she was more than just another crew member to the Commander, but the confirmation was so strong she had to interrupt the touch and the Vulcan took a step back, gasping when she realized what a profound effect this finding had.

They did not speak, both taking off the blind folds. Their respective breathing was hard and she realized that the Engineer’s body was no longer the only one showing clear signs of arousal. She had no doubt that even the human’s less sophisticated olfactory senses could pick up the substantial amount of pheromones she was giving off.

Unable to verbalize her emotions, she looked at him, waiting for the Commander to make a move – and he did.

-=/\=-

Suddenly the experiment didn’t matter anymore. All he could think of was getting his hands on that magnificent creature before him. Her face had a green-ish hue – a reminder that Vulcans were physiologically different, but he didn’t care. He’d dreamed of this moment so many times.

This was no desperate boink in the swamp with a woman he didn’t even particularly care for. The only thing on his mind was showing the curious Vulcan what it meant to be desired by a human. Since she seemed to be waiting on his reaction, he simply scooped her up and carried the naked Vulcan to her bed.

“My bed sheets however, are not made of tritanium alloy,” she reminded him with a husky voice.

“I’ll pay for the laundry service,” the chief said with a mischievous grin and put her down gently. Lying down next to her, he wasted no time and let his hand glide over her flat stomach until they reached her breasts. Her closed eyes and the quite un-Vulcan-like moan of pleasure were clear indications that the touch was most welcome.

“Lesson one,” he said, letting his breath brush along her cheeks. “This is the most important touch for a human.”

He leaned in and gently put his lips to hers. It was obvious that she shad no clue what to do, but considering that the quivering female in his embrace was a member of a species who didn’t practice such contact at all, she held her own. T’Pol’s arm snaked around his neck and she ruffled his hair as he literally took her breath away.

She was breathing heavily when he broke the kiss.

“A quite unsanitary practice,” she said amid gasps for air.

“Just wanted to demonstrate, I won’t repeat it if you don’t like it,” he promised and held her glance. Quite uncharacteristically, her eyes were glazed over and he had to remind himself that he was dealing with someone who had absolutely no clue about intimate contact and more importantly, he had absolutely no idea how a Vulcan reacted to touches that felt just right for a human.

“Since it is obviously part of the custom,” she replied hastily, but instead of finishing the sentence, she pulled his head down to demand more of the unknown interaction.

Trip inhaled loudly through his nose to alert her to breathe through the nose. After all the goal was to make her feel good, not to suffocate the Vulcan. He noticed that she did just that, and if anything picking up his scent seemed to motivate her to intensify the returning of the gesture. Soon they were engaged in a lively tongue wrestling match and their hands started to explore each other’s bodies.

He inhaled her sweet scent, eyes closed and not even thinking about to break the kiss, while his roving hand explored the soft but firm flesh of her towering breasts. The tissue of her mammary features, designed to withstand the higher gravity on Vulcan just felt perfect. Her dark nipples were standing at attention and rock-hard. Die to her blood color they had assumed a bronze-ish hue that looked absolutely adorable.

He went rigid for a moment when her hand had finished its travel down his abdomen and gripped the organ she was obviously most interested in. Despite the fact that they had ditched the blindfolds, T’Pol still had her eyes closed, exploring his intimate anatomy with her fingertips. Trip groaned out his pleasure as the Vulcan gently covered every inch of his throbbing meat.

Letting go of her breasts he returned the favor by sliding his own hand down her torso and started exploring the heated flesh of her womanhood. She broke the kiss momentarily to let out a dark guttural moan that in its intensity somehow didn’t exactly fit such a diminutive female, but soon enough her mouth latched back on to his as they both caressed each other in all the right places.

Snaking his finger along the length of her folds, he could still not find the one button that a man needed to push to really get a woman going. But he soon found out that T’Pol had done her homework on anatomical differences. She let go of his sensitive flesh and guided his finger into her damp opening. About half an inch in, he finally found the Vulcan equivalent very well hidden in the upper part of her vaginal walls and boy did she go off her rocker.

He had barely started to circle his fingertip around the sensitive spot when T’Pol went completely haywire. She was moaning, whimpering, yelping all the same and babbling on in Vulcan, which he could of course not decipher, but at a guess he assumed that it wasn’t to mean ‘stop that’.

He winced slightly when she grabbed his organ a bit too tightly, but despite being somewhere in a different sphere of incoherence seemed to sense his discomfort and eased her grip around the sensitive flash, which did not stop her from stroking him with vigor.

Pleasing each other fervently, both of them were no longer cognizant of anything but the partner they wished to please. Kissing each other, they were lost in the sensation of each other’s taste and smell. The frantic activity was interrupted when he could no longer hold out and his payload ended up splattered all over her thigh, but despite the long yearned-for relief he kept on going and not too long a time later T’Pol went rigid as a board letting out a blood-curdling scream as she experienced the first orgasm of her life.

-=/\=-

Trip had never seen something this intense, and that had not been anything like the real deal yet. And it had taken almost fifteen minutes for T’Pol to regain anything that remotely resembled coherence. He had just finished wiping his own mess off her skin with a towel when he noticed that despite the glow of intimate satiety, T’Pol was strangely restless.

“You okay, darlin’?” Trip asked, concerned about her strange reaction. See seemed unable to focus at all. Her answer hit him like a ton of bricks.

“Commander, you need to call Doctor Phlox. I have lost my eyesight.”


	7. Clothing Change

He was cradling the head of the upset Vulcan in his arms when the Denobulan entered and he couldn’t quite suppress an annoyed inhale when the ship’s medical officer grinned like the cat that ate the canary. Loss of vision was hardly something to be cheerful about.

Ignoring their state of undress, the Denobulan scanned T’Pol’s head and his impossibly wide grin got even more extreme.

“Congratulations, Commander,” he said, flipping his scanner shut. “You have managed something exceedingly rare, you have given a Vulcan female an orgasm. Quite an extra-ordinary achievement given their anatomy.”

“Sorry doc, I must be missing the funny part,” he disagreed with an annoyed tone in his voice. “If that means T’Pol’s going blind, I wouldn’t exactly call it an achievement.”

To his surprise the doctor took a seat and fixed them with an interested look.

“Commander, Subcommander, the loss of vision is only temporary. As you have obviously found out by now, the Vulcan female anatomy is not designed to make sexual contact as pleasurable as it is for females of other species. When a climax does happen, however, the effects are profound. What the Subcommander is experiencing is a simple neurological overload that will subside in a matter of a few hours.”

“Talk about bein’ short-shifted,” Trip said and shook his head. He looked down at T’Pol who appeared somewhat calmer now. Although the doctor had seen both of them in the nude before, he covered her and himself with the duvet.

The doctor acknowledged the move with a grin.

“If you are uncomfortable with your condition, Subcommander, I can of course reverse the effects by medical means, but I can assure you there will be no lasting effect, no matter how often you repeat the experience. In fact, with experience the effects will be less severe.”

“You mean...”

“Yes, Commander,” the doctor continued, still sporting that impossibly wide grin. “You can compare it with human muscle tissue. If you overexert yourself, your muscles will ache, but regular exercise will enable them to become accustomed to the demand.”

Trip couldn't help but grin when the doctor made his way back to sickbay. Now _that_ was something he could get used to. How cool was that?

“I take it you will be available for 'training' by neurological system?” T'Pol remarked dryly and he laughed. She was definitely getting better at cracking jokes.

“Of course Subcommander,” he declared, mimicking her stilt-speak. “After all it was I who brought this disagreeable condition upon you.”

Instead of answering she snuggled up a little closer to him, waiting for her vision to return.

-=/\=-

When Subcommander T'Pol opened her eyes, the chronometer showed 05:30. The fact that she _could_ see it meant that Doctor Phlox's diagnosis had been correct and the loss of vision was indeed temporary, albeit quite lengthy. What it also meant was that she and Commander Tucker had obviously fallen asleep and spent the night in her quarters, a thought that she did not find to be entirely disagreeable, especially since he still maintained close contact.

Her head was resting in the crook of his shoulder and his arm was wrapped protectively around her, his hand cupping one of her buttocks. It appeared that Lieutenant Reed was not the only human, who harbored a fascination with her derrière. She made a mental note to consult Ensign Sato about that strange interest in a body part that served a vital if not particularly tasteful purpose.

She concentrated on his emotional state and through the close touch-telepathic contact she found nothing but contentment. He was sleeping contently, and she put her arm around his waist, determined to use the remaining ninety minutes of their rest to listen to his steady heartbeat. T’Pol had realized that the soft, regular sound had an almost meditative effect on her.

-=/\=-

T’Pol’s mind was still conflicted and confused after Ensign Sato had taught her the basics of how human females dealt with sexual arousal when no intimate partner was available.

There had been several noteworthy discoveries. The first, and perhaps most surprising one was, that she had become aroused by watching Ensign Sato demonstrate the procedure. She had never become excited by the thought or sight of a female body. As a working theory she attributed that discovery to the fact that Ensign Sato had received the highest average score of all females in the first experiment.

Having made an appropriate adaption to the technique to account for her Vulcan anatomy she had succeeded in resolving her arousal by inducing sexual climax, but it had been lacking the intensity of the climax caused by Commander Tucker's stimulation. Her vision had returned only ninety minutes after the event, much faster than after the experiment with the ship’s chief engineer.

She had used the time to record her report. Due to ensign Sato’s modification to her PADD’s firmware, she could operate it without the need for vision. She had memorized the layout of the user interface and the communications officer had modified the software to emit different sounds when her searching fingertips were over a specific element. A most helpful addition to bridge the time necessary for her neural pathways to recover.

She had now two recordings of herself and Ensign Sato using the technique, but she suspected it would create some discomfort if she asked Commander Tucker to demonstrate the technique for recording purposes. She would need to allow him to consume two or three bottles of his favorite beverage and make sure she would expose herself sufficiently to facilitate the necessary arousal.

Ensign Sato had volunteered to ‘put on a show’ for the commander to arouse him during the procedure, but she had decided to decline. Another person in attendance would most likely just exacerbate the engineer’s discomfort, and she was not sure if too much involvement of the young linguist in her experiments wouldn’t have a detrimental effect to the burgeoning relationship between Lieutenant Reed and the ensign. So far the sight of her own unclothed body had been enough to arouse the Commander and as long as that was the case there was no need for more radical means.

Now that her vision had recovered, she could work through the contents of her inbox. The first three entries were confirmations of Doctor Phlox that he had conducted the weekly checkup of Commander Tucker, Lieutenant Reed and Ensign Sato. She had decided to limit the pool of potential candidates for her experiments and all three officers had agreed to undergo the weekly certification of their intimate health. The fourth one was the long-awaited answer from her mother. Surprisingly it was encrypted with her own private key that she had left with her mother before being assigned to _Enterprise_.

_My surprisingly perceptive daughter,_

_Should you ever be able to break away from your duties long enough to pay a much anticipated visit to your home, you must be aware that I am no longer living on my own. Due to no small interference on your behalf, V’Dor and I have seen the logic of pursuing a betrothal. We are currently in the process of joining our estates and we have decided to leave his dwelling standing for the case that you would ever decide to return to our world or even consider taking a mate to provide the grandchildren that women of my age are usually able to tend to._

_On the latter account I am of course not too hopeful. Our relations might have been strained in recent years, but I am still your mother and in that capacity I can easily determine that the attraction of this Commander Tucker is not entirely one-sided. Logic would dictate that I must now lecture you on the lack of such in that fact, but my logic fails me considering the material on your experiment 1B. You quite rightfully assigned the highest rating to his appearance, in fact I would most likely have rated his appearance even higher, but I urge you to consider how short-lived those humans are. Unlike ours their decline with age is fairly linear, which means in ten to fifteen years your commander might have lost most of the attributes that make him such a fascinating specimen._

_Attached to this communication you shall find my personal encryption key to apply to further communications. Your research is obviously quite thorough and you will soon venture into topics that the authorities do not necessarily need to be made aware of. Before you start experimenting with physical intimate concepts, I urge you to consult with your doctor Phlox. I doubt any of the humans would possess the necessary finesse, much less the patience, to induce sexual climax, but should it happen, there are physiological aspects to be considered._

_On behalf of your insinuation that I would further expose myself to V’Dor, I have the disagreeable duty to admit that you were right. It does indeed provide a sort of illicit satisfaction to observe his fascination with my physique. The annual heat wave has already passed, so continuing to divest myself of all clothing would be too obvious a gesture, however I have found that meditating in a partial state of undress is unexpectedly effective in providing the necessary comfort to deal with my emotions while keeping my new housemate ‘on his toes’ as the humans at the academy say._

_V’Dor has admitted that the atmosphere of a darkened room, only lit by a meditation candle with me meditating with a bare torso stirs much stronger emotions than seeing me completely unclothed in the garden. To facilitate that I procured a type of garment called ‘Leggins’ from one of the shops in the human compound. So if you have access to such apparel it might be worthwhile to test the theory on your commander Tucker._

_Unfortunately the garment does not lend itself to hiding any deficiencies of one’s body. I doubt you will experience any problems in that regard, however I have noticed to my chagrin that age and general lack of exercise has saddled me with additional weight. If you have any helpful information on exercises to facilitate expedient weight loss do not hesitate to include it in your next communication._

_Your fairly invigorated mother._

She raised and interested eyebrow. She wondered if her mother was suffering from a condition she had so far only seen in human females – the irrational perception of being overweight. Of course her mother’s physique had become somewhat more robust with age, but T’Les’ appearance could easily rival that of females four decades her junior. However, she made a mental note to consult doctor phlox on the matter of weight loss and muscle training for Vulcans.

Before starting to assemble her reply to her mother she researched the garments called ‘Leggins’ and to her satisfaction she noticed it was a type of pants she had seen being worn by many females in the ship’s gym, which meant the quarter master would surely be able to provide such clothing.

_My revered and entirely predictable mother,_

_Without wishing to sound patronizing, may I remind you that I had suggested pursuing a new betrothal as early as a decade ago? It is most agreeable to hear that my interference has helped you in that regard and I am convinced your chosen mate can see the agreeable aspects of my suggestion as well._

_On the matter of your weight loss I shall consult with doctor Phlox, however I am convinced that nominal weight is not your problem. What you need to do is rebuilding muscle mass in your thighs and the gluteus maximus. I am sure as a scientist you shall be able to devise exercises to train these muscle groups._

_I am grateful for your presence of mind to provide your encryption key as I would otherwise have foregone sharing my latest research with you. I rely upon your utmost discretion when listening or viewing the various recordings. They will hopefully challenge your misconception about the finesse of humans, as you will see that Commander Tucker was quite able to induce what you deemed improbable and as you will also see that I have found out about the temporary debilitating effects of sexual climax on my own. I have discovered that the length of after-effects is quite effective in evaluating the intensity of the experience._

_Regarding your observation that the Commander's attraction is reciprocated, I see no reason to deny the fact. However I shall hold off informing him of the fact as I assume it would influence my research if we were to engage in an intimate relationship. I find that necessity quite disagreeable however, as I have realized that sharing the bed with him (for the purpose of sleeping, mother) made sleep significantly more restful. Did you know that listening to a human's heartbeat has a meditative effect?_

_I shall now end this transmission as I find myself impatient to test your suggestion to improve my meditation._

_Your busy daughter._

_-=/\=-_

It was becoming a recurrent pattern that T'Pol experienced impatience. Commander Tucker would of course be punctual as always, but for some illogical reason time seemed to pass slower the nearer it came to the time of his arrival.

When the arranged sequence of door bell buzzes sounded, she calmly asked him to enter. She closed her eyes and waited for the Commanders reaction. She could hear that he closed and locked the door, but did not offer an immediate verbal reaction.

What her keen sense of smell _did_ notice however was the almost explosive emission of pheromones. Apparently the setup was most successful. Finally a verbal confirmation came.

“Wow!”

 


	8. Educational Viewing

She turned off the camera on her way back from the bathroom. With a wet cloth she wiped the 'mess' Commander Tucker had made on the floor during the recording. Her test subject was still sitting on the desk chair, leaning back with closed eyes, and his semi-erect organ still in the grip of his right hand. Although somewhat pleasurable by the look of it, she could easily sense that the procedure had been highly embarrassing for the chief engineer. Apparently masturbation was an extremely private undertaking for humans and performing it for an audience or even recording had been most discomforting for both Ensign Sato and Commander Tucker.

She disposed of the stained cloth into the laundry chute and started cleaning the Commander's phallus and hands with the second cloth. Somewhat wide-eyed in surprise he accepted her ministrations. When she was finished she leaned in and exchanged a kiss with the Commander and expressed her gratitude for his cooperation.

This appeared to lessen his discomfort and the smile returned to his features as he pulled his underpants back up. Having seen that she wore partial clothing, he had opted to leave his blue underpants on as well.

“As much as I love the reward, I hope I don’t have to do that again,” he said while she put the second cloth in the laundry chute as well. She served him another helping of his favorite beverage. It was already the forth bottle, but the Commander did not appear inebriated.

“I regret the discomfort,” she replied, “But I am afraid some of the upcoming experiments might have the potential to be uncomfortable.”

“What do you have in mind?” he asked and from the way he squinted his eyes she could tell that he suspicious.

T’Pol arranged her meditation cushions on the wall at the back of her bunk until the arrangement looked vaguely like a sofa. She sat down and indicated her guest to join her.

“Nice touch on the Yoga pants by the way,” he said while taking a seat next to her, seemingly forgetting to continue chasing an answer for his prior question. “This is much more sexy than being completely naked.”

“My mother insinuated the same. Can you explain the difference?”

“Well, look T’Pol,” he opened and her eyebrow went up as she did not readily understand why cupping her right breast was part of the explanation. “Our primary sexual organs, as you like to call them, are made to _feel_ good. But if you look at the first experiment; neither any of the guys nor any of the girls has said the thing between our legs was the most attractive part.”

She poked away at her PADD entering the new information. “So I take it that baring one's genitalia is considered unattractive?”

He shook his head. “Not unattractive per sé. Take your meditation for instance. If you had done that completely naked it wouldn't have been a very modest picture. You sitting there topless in yoga pants looks sexy. You sitting there presenting a direct view straight at pleasure central looks naughty and a bit obvious, as if to say 'here, make that feel good'. That make sense?”

She nodded her understanding and continued writing down the new information, but she kept getting distracted by the Commander's fascination with various parts of her anatomy. Apparently humans even applied a meaning to various states of undress. While many of their mating customs appeared quite pleasurable, she did wonder how a species had survived that long by possessing such complex customs regarding the biological process of procreation. On second thought however, she noticed that this very topic had never come up.

“Commander, I noticed that the topic of procreation is almost never mentioned in connection with sexual relations. Considering that this is the main purpose of engaging in intercourse, I find this quite confusing.”

He smiled, consuming his beverage. “That, dear Subcommander is because procreation _isn't_ the main purpose of havin' sex, at least not for humans. It took until two hundred years ago before we got our heads around it. It wasn't called the sexual revolution for nothing. Basically there are three types of sex. First, for procreation obviously. Second, there is makin' love, that's what we call having sex with someone you love as a way to show that. And then there's casual sex, where the only point is to get pleasure and relax.

“So my theory that it relieves tension is not as wrong as your often provocative remarks make it appear?”

“No, it's not,” he admitted. “In fact it's a great tension relief.”

“Why did you mock my comments then?” she asked, calmly without too much reproach.

“Because it's not as easy as just sayin' 'have sex' when someone is tense,” the engineer replied. “Sex is literally a very intimate thing and even if it is casual it requires a lot of trust. Would you be sitting like that in your quarters with, let's say, Travis?”

“Most likely not,” she admitted.

“Back then before Risa you just assumed that we could run down there and bang everything in a skirt, but that's not how it works. I tend to think that we're comfortable enough with each other that we could even tackle some of the 'advanced experiments', but that wouldn't have been true a year ago, and believe it or not, it would have been _me_ who'd have declined.”

“It would appear then that, while effective at easing tension, sexual relations are rather ineffective at that because its complex requirements.”

“Now you got it,” he said with a grin.

-=/\=-

When he returned from the bathroom after getting rid of some of the previously drunk beers,he stopped in the door. Leaning against the door sill, the ship's chief engineer observed the Vulcan with a small smile on his face. Even though the absence of most of their clothing had become sort of customary lately, the sight of T'Pol in nothing but a pair of tight yoga pants was still as spectacular as the first time he'd seen her topless. Looking at the spectacular bust of the ship's science officer was not in danger of getting old anytime soon.

Apparently she noticed his prolonged absence from her side on the makeshift sofa atop her bunk. When she saw his appreciative looks, T'Pol put the PADD aside and leaned back to give him an unobstructed view at her physique.

“You're getting better at that,” he noted and rejoined her on the bunk. “Or were you just ready entering your data?”

“No, my gesture was deliberate. You are mostly fascinated with my bust and my derrière, so it was logical to afford you an unobstructed look to increase your pleasure.”

“Sounds a bit dry,” he admitted, still smiling. “But in essence you're starting to get the hang of it.”

“I'm afraid I will not be able to use the colorful vernacular that humans apply to various aspects of intimate customs,” she explained in reference to his 'dry' accusation.

“It was not meant to be criticism, T'Pol. The whole point of the exercise is that we are genuinely ourselves during intimate encounters. Nothing is more of a turn off than knowing that your partner is play-acting.”

She nodded her understanding.

“Commander I have procured educational material on the matter and I wish to review it with you as I believe it is time to start conducting 'advanced experiments' as you called it.”

“Sex Ed films?” he asked, slightly bemused, but instead of answering she started the recording on her view-screen on the opposite side of her cabin. The timing was more than unfortunate as Trip had just taken a swig from his beer and the drink was explosively expelled through his nose. He coughed helplessly for a while before looking at T'Pol in dumbfounded bewilderment.

“ _Educational_ , T'Pol? You call 'Debbie does the Alpha Quadrant' educational?”

“It does not represent viable sexual techniques?” she asked.

“Well, yes and no,” he evaded a straight answer. “Alright tell you what, let's watch the first scene and we'll pick it apart, okay?”

They watched the ridiculous intro and the fictional space ship's captain came out of a turbo lift to witness a rather lively scene on on the bridge. Trip watched for a while, and started blushing when despite the hilariously bad quality of the flick, a certain bodily reaction set in, especially as the scene concentrated on a 'Vulcan' science officer and the chief engineer who had apparently been illicitly conceived by the elephant man banging a steroids factory.

T'Pol stopped the recording and although she glanced down at his crotch for a moment, she didn't offer any comment on his erection.

“So, see any logical flaws in that one?” he asked, ignoring his abashment. He went over to the cooler to exchange his empty bottle for a new one, which gave him time to collect himself and let his erection go down.

“I take it the naming of the fictional space ship – UES Gangbang – has a sexual connotation? And the continuity of the introductory narration was fairly lacking in logic. Why would a human crew venture into space to seek for new species 'to bone' when they are obviously quite well equipped to entertain themselves among their own kind or with poorly depicted fictional Vulcans?”

“Well, first of all – yes – gangbang definitely has a sexual connotation, in fact if we make it far enough into the film without laughing ourselves to death about the ridiculousness of it, you'll probably get to see one. And don't expect any consistent story-line. The whole point of a pornographic film is to show people having sex in all possible and impossible variants.”

“So the point is to superficially arouse the viewer,” she stated.

“With the emphasis on superficial,” he agreed and pointed at his crotch. “I obviously showed a reaction, but as soon as the 'action' stopped, it ended. I'd had a longer erection when drawing you and that didn't involve any naughty action at all. Any other flaws?”

“The woman is obviously not a true Vulcan. She is anatomically incorrect.“

“She's as fake a hooker's smile. They simply tacked two fake ears on a woman with equally fake breasts. I doubt that you'd find any Vulcan who has such a monstrous set of jugs naturally.”

“My bust is considered fairly large by Vulcan standards,” she said looking down at her chest for comparison. “I take that to mean her bust has been surgically enhanced? Does that apply to the male's genitalia as well?”

“I'm in the same boat as you,” the chief engineer confirmed. “I'm considered well endowed, but that thing is freak. She can barely get it into her mouth without suffering lockjaw. I don't think he's been 'enhanced', they simply searched for an actor with a genetic defect that causes an over-sized penis. Now the woman, she's definitely had a boob job or probably more like a dozen. They could probably find a woman with those things in natural size, but first she'd be looking like Jabba the Hut, since human breasts mainly consist of fatty tissue, and the things would be hanging around her knees.

“If you think back to the first experiment – Anna is about as stacked as human women can get without being ridiculously fat and she's going to pay for it when she gets older, as the tissue will slacken with age. Trust me, my XO is _not_ looking forward to her fortieth birthday. “

“What about the sexual technique itself?” T'Pol asked, entering his explanation into her PADD.

“Well, for obvious reasons it's called oral sex. You'll see that a lot in those films, which suggests all women like that or it is a standard technique, but that's not true. First of all, it's a one-way street. It's sole purpose is to pleasure the man, so if anything, a woman performs that to specifically pleasure her partner, she doesn't get much out of it herself except a money shot.”

“What is a money shot?”

“Well, the guy will eventually climax and his payload has to go somewhere. Either the woman takes it down her throat and swallows the stuff or she'll have it splattered all over her face and chest, which you'll see quite often in those types of movies. You'll have to ask Hoshi about a female point of view on that one, but I hazard a guess that most women will just swallow the stuff instead of being messed up, even though I'm told the taste leaves something to be desired.”

“Would a female's desire to please truly be that great to perform this one-sided technique, especially considering that the conclusion seems fairly unsatisfactory from a female point of view?”

He scratched the side of his head, weighing up his answer.

“As I said, those films make it look as if every woman likes doing that, and it's not true. Not every woman would use that tenchnique in the first place. Of those that do, many do it because they want to please their partner, and there is an equally one-sided oral technique for the man to perform on the woman, so it can be a fair trade between partners. Some also use it as a practical measure. Even after only twenty-four hours a human male will climax quite quickly the first time, so if the women want their partner to hold out a bit longer, they use a blowjob to get the first one, the quick climax, out of the way. And while he recovers for the next round, the man can return the favor.”

“Thank you for the explanation, commander,” she said, put her PADD away and restarted the movie.

“You can use the timing system to skip to the next scene,” he advised her. “Trust me, you won't miss much of the plot.”

She didn't answer, instead she intently observed the goings-on on the screen. When the scene had ended with the guy splattering a rather unrealistically huge load all over the fake Vulcan, she paused the recording and turned around to him. Without an explanation she leaned in and started sniffing along his torso.

“Disrobe please, commander.”

While the bewildered chief followed her 'order', she pushed down her yoga pants as well.

“Is that going to be what it looks like, subcommander?”

His voice was dancing with amusement, but there was also an element of surprise and anxiousness.

“You are correct. I _could_ ask Ensign Sato for her opinion,” she explained dead-pan while re-aligning the camera to the bunk. “Or I could try the technique myself. And if you are familiar with it, I would like to ask for a demonstration of the reciprocal technique as well.”

It was the answer he had secretly hoped for, but he nonetheless looked at her somewhat flabbergasted when the naked Vulcan knelt down in front of the bunk and started stroking his semi-erect organ until he was ready for action.

“According to your explanation and the fact that you have climaxed once already, I do have some time to practice the technique, do I not?” she asked dryly and took him in her mouth.

“I'll be damned. That will entirely depend on your technique darlin',” he groaned and flopped back onto the bunk when he felt the soft warmth of her throat engulf his erection. 


	9. Passing The Oral Exam

Trip looked down along the length of his own body, still in disbelief over the scene unfolding before his eyes. Propped up on his elbows he watched the unbelievable spectacle of T'Pol with his raging hard-on in her mouth. A year ago he would have rolled his eyes at her for a remark how much quicker Vulcans were in learning new things, but if she had learned to fellate like that from watching a bad porn flick for ten minutes, god almighty! This research endeavor could be the greatest thing ever.

In all honesty, the tentative sexual experiments and even the half-naked sitting around in her quarters had become the icing on the cake. The main focus was spending time with T'Pol and the comfortable familiarity he had developed with T'Pol. While the Vulcan was steadfastly protecting her private space, she would now put her hand on the small of his back when they were looking at a readout in Engineering together. When he offered her a bite from his sandwich when they ate together, she didn't offer as much as a raised eyebrow, she'd just lean forward and take a small bite out of the offered food. When interacting with him, she was simply a different person.

These thoughts were drowned out by the incredible feeling of T'Pol's work on his throbbing organ. She'd kept her eyes closed throughout the experience, only once in a while casting her eyes upwards to observe his reaction to her stimulation. There was no other way to describe it, she was lovingly handling his sensitive flesh. This went far beyond a detached scientific experiment and what was even more surprising, she seemed to know exactly what he liked best. Over the last few minutes she had narrowed her technique down to what could only be described as a perfect way to drive him wild – and god dammit was she good with her tongue.

Even though the masturbation recording had taken the edge off, he could feel he wouldn't last much longer and felt the familiar tingling bubble up in his loins. He barely managed to warn her about the imminent explosion but T'Pol continued undeterred and mere moments later he emptied himself down her gullet. She coughed slightly but managed not to spill anything. She cleaned him carefully while the ship's chief engineer was still shivering and breathing hard in the aftershock of the most intense orgasm he'd had in a very long time.

He looked at her when she picked up his half-empty beer bottle and washed down his payload with a healthy swig of the beverage.

“God almighty, T'Pol, that was the most amazin' thing I've ever experienced,” he said, shaking his head in deeply sated disbelief. “Are you really trying to tell me you learned that from watching ten minutes of the most over-the-top porn flick ever made?”

“I merely memorized the specific stimulation techniques. I used Vulcan techniques to determine which of them were most pleasurable to you.”

“That's how you found the perfect technique, isn't it? It started out somewhat hit and miss, but near the end you always knew what I liked best.”

She nodded, handing the bottle back to him. It was another aspect of their changed interaction. She would never have shared a bottle with him several months ago.

“Vulcans are touch telepathic, commander. Using physical contact, we can determine the emotions of the person we are touching. I merely needed to pay attention which techniques spiked your pleasure.”

“So that's why you don't like handshakes,” he realized. “You'd be flooded by foreign emotions against your will.”

She nodded again. “Of course, taking a male's phallus in our mouth is not how Vulcans customarily initiate touch-telepathic contact.”

He laughed softly at her wise-crack. She was definitely getting better at those.

“So, what's your verdict on the activity?” he asked, wondering if that amazing experience would remain a one-off.

“The observation on the less than pleasurable taste of ejaculate is quite fitting, however having a strongly flavored beverage at hand can easily rectify this problem. “Otherwise, for me it is not subject to the same limitations that it has for human women. Due to the touch-telepathic feedback, it is actually quite a stimulating sensation,” she admitted, pointing at her erect nipples.

“Ready for the favor to be returned?” he asked with a smile.

“I am most eager to find out, commander,” she replied and let him push her back onto the bunk.

-=/\=-

T'Pol felt the last remnants of her emotional control shatter when she sensed the Commander's tongue snake into her vaginal entrance in search of the well-concealed spot that served the same purpose as the clitoris on the anatomy of a human female.

Up to that point the human had already spent an inordinate time on stimulating her ears and nipples with his tongue and he even engaged in a lengthy kiss despite the fact that she had orally received his own ejaculate just minutes before. She had been 'out of her mind' as the commander would say, before he even started to pay attention to her genitalia. And he had done all that without the benefit of touch-telepathic guidance.

She felt an almost surreal sensation of leaving her own body when his tongue found its target and he started to stimulate the sensitive spot with circular motions of the tip of his tongue. She had never experienced emotions as raw as those currently ravaging her mind, and though the touch-telepathic contact she could determine that the commander was highly elated by providing her with pleasurable sensations.

As if she was standing next to her physical presence she could hear herself plead that he would under no circumstances seize his current activity, but she could tell it was in Vulcan and therefore the Commander would not be able to understand her communication. However he did not appear to prepare seizing his activity in any case, in fact he supplemented it by stimulating her bust with his hands, either kneading the tissue of her mammary features or gently twisting her sensitive nipples between thumb and index finger. It was her last conscious though before a violent sexual climax took her senses to the night.

-=/\=-

When her mind started to clear up, she found herself on her bunk, still unclothed and engulfed in the gentle embrace of Commander Tucker. He had apparently reduced the room temperature by several degrees and pulled a blanket over their entangled bodies. Her head was resting in the crook of his shoulder again and – as he had done before – he held her in place with his arm around her torso, his hand resting on her bare posterior.

Lacking her vision she let her finger tips ever so carefully glide over his face in an attempt to find out if the commander was awake. The pure contentment radiating in his mind suggested he might be asleep, but to her surprise he let her know that he was awake by gently kissing her finger tips when they brushed his lips.

“I take it we can't quite continue watching that movie right now?” he asked with audible amusement.

“It would be somewhat... impractical,” she replied, relishing the sound of his soft laughter. “Could you please hand me my PADD?”

“Need me to help?” he asked as he carefully placed the item in her hands.

“Ensign Sato has modified it to be operable in an unsighted state,” she explained and let her finger tips glide over the screen repeatedly until a low frequency buzzing sound notified her that she had found the recording button.

“Recording,” the device announced in a clearly computer generated voice, and she put it next to her on the bunk.

“Would you describe the experience from your point of view, commander,” the Vulcan asked for the sake of recording the results of an experiment she would have to specify _after_ actually conducting it.

“It's the strangest thing,” he explained. “I think this touch-telepathy works both ways.”

“Can you specify what leads you to this conclusion?”

“Well, I've done this before with a human girl. And I remember I sort of enjoyed it, but this time I had sort of flashes where it hit me like 'hey, this feels great'. First when I sucked the top of your ears, then when I worked on your nipples and when I found your pleasure spot I nearly short-circuited myself. I think it were your emotions I was feeling. Maybe I just couldn't separate them from my own?”

“Your theory has merit,” she noted with a raised eyebrow. This was indeed a most fascinating discovery. It also proved that the Commander was still able to separate his private feelings from the duty to provide scientifically viable data.

She felt around for the PADD and after a short search she found the 'Stop' button to end the recording.

“Commander, this question will not be recorded. Have you developed an emotional attachment to me?”

He did not answer the question right away, but T'Pol's beginning insecurity about his reaction was lessened by the fact that he also did not seize holding her in his embrace.

“T'Pol, I think it is more than just an emotional attachment. I relish any second I can spend with you. In fact my greatest wish right now is that we spend the night together just as we did last time.”

“I am quite aware of your wishes,” she replied and to emphasize her sincerity she gently caressed his chest. “And your wishes are reciprocated, but are you aware that my studies will require comparative experiments. I will need to engage in sexual relations with other males, and your cooperation provided, you would be required to mate with females other than me. From what I have learned about your character and human males in general it would be a quite disagreeable thought to you that I would be intimate with another male, even or perhaps especially if I did not inform you about it.”

“T'Pol, I'm not an idiot,” he said. “I know I can't do all the experiments myself. But I know you well enough to see the difference. If you had watched this trash movie with Malcolm, you'd still have memorized the 'oral techniques', but then you'd have specified your experiment, told him what he needs to do for preparing, for instance a shower, and then you'd asked him to come back the next day and you'd have meditated till the cows come home beforehand. With me you decided to just do it, because we trust each other enough and it is not the same to you when I’m involved.”

“Most perceptive, Commander.”

“Well, and while we're at it, telling each other the truth; If you ask me to have sex with Hoshi or Anna, I certainly won't decline. I'm friends with both of them and we know that it won't be all over the ship the next day. But I won't want to spend the night with them afterwards. With you, it's makin' love, with them it'd be casual sex.”

T'Pol snuggled a little closer to him. “So you would not be hurt by the thought of me orally stimulating Lieutenant Reed or Ensign Mayweather?”

“Simple question, T'Pol. How would you do it?”

“The mechanical basics would obviously be the same,” she replied. “But I would ask for the same warning you gave me before ejaculation. I would not wish to consume their seed.”

“See, answers my question. It's technically the same, but not on an emotional level. You've successfully riddled out the difference between casual sex and makin' love, or in your case of course, sex in the name of science.”

It took three attempts but she finally found his lips and kissed him.

“Oh, and if you want to know a secret,” he added with obvious glee resonating in his voice. “I might have a bit of a voyeuristic streak in me. I find the idea of watching you being with Malcolm or Hoshi sort of… um… exciting.”

“I believe an audience can be arranged,” T'Pol added, raising her eyebrow in amusement. “But first I need some cooperation from you.”

“What sort of cooperation?”

“You will be required to help me relocate your belongings. From this day on I shall not accept that you spend a single night outside this bunk. Away missions excepted, of course.”

“I believe that can be arranged, Subcommander.”

When his lips brushed against hers, she simply gave herself in to his touch.


	10. Scientific Observation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eireann will hate me for that chapter ;)

T'Pol wiped the vaginal lubrication fluid off her chin after performing oral stimulation on Ensign Sato. The reaction of the human female had been surprisingly enthusiastic, but even more fascinating was the fact how much the experience had aroused herself. In fact her thoughts were entirely dominated by the wish that Commander Tucker would understand that she needed sexual relief and the sensation of his tongue on her swollen labia told her that he indeed had 'gotten the hint' as humans used to say. Involuntarily she let out a loud moan and found herself unable to leave her current position for fear of losing his touch.

-=/\=-

T’Pol rested on her bunk, reviewing the scientific data gathered on the day before. What had routinely started as a part of experiment 5-B – oral stimulation of a human female – had resulted in a ‘threesome’. Partly responsible for that escalation was of course the Andorian Ale she had been forced to consume to appease the Andorian Commander Shran in the aftermath of the away mission with Captain Archer and Ambassador Soval to Paan Mokar.

She had limited experience with consuming soft alcoholic beverages of human origin, specifically wine, the taste of which she found quite agreeable. The Andorian Ale was however the first such potent drink T’Pol had ever tasted. She had consumed one glass of the ale with the negotiation parties, and after the Ambassador’s departure, two more with Captain Archer. Decency demanded that she indulged in the commanding officer's wish to celebrate what he called his first diplomatic breakthrough.

For over an hour the combined intake of the substance seemed to have little effect except for causing a slight unsteadiness in her gait, but approximately ninety minutes after leaving the captain’s mess it started causing a so far never experienced type of euphoria and a strong urge to engage in sexual relations. Commander Tucker had pointed at the human vernacular ‘being horny’ to describe the condition. It was apparently not uncommon among human females as well to experience such an urge after the consumption of potent alcoholic beverages.

Having reviewed the recording she had been able to reconstruct the events in full detail. She had successfully performed oral stimulation on ensign Sato as per experiment specification. However the experience had left her so aroused that she had needed intimate relief, which was provided by Commander Tucker in a repeat of the previous experiment a week ago. The ship’s chief engineer had been allowed to watch the encounter and had become highly aroused by the experience.

Since she had been too incapacitated by her own climax to tend to the commander’s needs, it was ensign Sato who had then provided oral relief to the commander. A most interesting encounter indeed. And it had left her with more questions than it answered.

In the morning a new communication from her mother had arrived, surprisingly late after their latest exchange.  Now would be a good time to read it.

_ My only mildly patronizing daughter, _

_ By Surak, I am indeed relieved that your latest transmission was strongly encrypted and I was alone in my dwelling when I reviewed your scientific data. Watching the mating act of your own child is a highly disconcerting experience, even if it serves the purpose of science. Even harder is it to advise you to repeat these experiments with at least one male other than your commander Tucker, as even for a third-party it is apparent that he is far too strongly invested in the endeavor of providing the utmost of pleasure to you, at the cost of his own emotional gain. It would leave your results falsely representing a too optimistic image. _

_ I have you know that V’Dor and I are now officially betrothed. Is there any chance that you could persuade your Starfleet to grant you a short visit to witness our marriage ceremony? We are withholding the declaration of a final date until we have word if you may attend. _

_ You are indeed fortuitous, child. The debilitating effects of sexual climax are far less severe than they are for me. I often lose the sense of hearing and my eyesight, a most disconcerting state of helplessness. Fortunately for me, however, V’Dor chose the same approach as your commander Tucker and held me until the effects subsided. Isn’t it ironic that our physiology makes us pay such a high price for experiencing pleasure? _

_ I must admit to a certain amount of curiosity when I saw that you conducted some of your experiments with another female. Considering official doctrine on the matter and my own discomfort at the thought of engaging in any sort of intimacy with specimen of the same gender, I had experienced a highly impassioned encounter, which was obviously not the case. Perhaps you may provide further clarification on the matter? _

_ Your slightly unsettled mother. _

The reply to her mother’s communication would have to wait. While the ship was still in the vicinity of Paan Mokar the chances were that Starfleet would grant them a short diversion to Vulcan. She had to speak with the captain.

-=/\=-

“Looks a bit empty in here,” Malcolm said when he walked into the quarters of the only real friend he had. The change in Commander Tucker's living arrangement had of course not gone unnoticed on a ship with a rumor mill as hyper-active as Enterprise's.

“Yeah, well, I still have the bare necessities here, but everything else is at T'Pol's place.”

The tactical officer accepted the offered beer with a grateful nod and looked at the American questioningly.

“Why didn't you just leave completely? We could make this into guest quarters. I would have thought the Subcommander isn't the type of person who'd invite you to live with her without really thinking it through.”

The engineer shook his head to dismiss the sentiment of T'Pol having made the decision on a whim.

“It's a different reason. You know our science officer. This research isn't a joke. She takes it dead serious. That means she's goin' to take other people to the task. But we don't want that to happen in the same bed that we're spendin' the nights in. Those experiments will take place here. That way she won't need to take down and put up the equipment every time, too”

There was one question that was the obvious one to ask.

“How will you handle it?” Malcolm asked. “With your old-fashioned gentleman manners and everything, you don't strike me as someone who'd be easily able to accept that his girl shags other blokes.”

“Just because I think holdin' the door open for a lady is the right thing to do, doesn't mean I'm still stuck in eighteen-thirty,” the American replied with a grin and knocked back his beer. “First of all, I know _why_ she does it. Whoever the chosen few are, I can just hope they don't expect to be seduced with a striptease or anything. She's a Vulcan. For her it's just a rather physical variation of gathering sensor readings. She’ll go about it mechanically, orderly and with proper restrictions. Trust me anyone hoping for a hot bonk with the ship’s resident Vulcan will come out of it rather disappointed. It’s not called a scientific experiment without reason.”

“Maybe I should rethink my willingness to participate then,” Malcolm teased him with a half-smile.

“If you had any expectations, then maybe you should,” the American said seriously. Obviously the sarcasm had been too well hidden for the chief engineer to notice.

“Trip, it was a joke,” he reassured his host. “In fact I found a notice in my inbox asking if I was willing to make myself available for 'research on oral stimulation'.  And the whole thing came with a detailed laundry-list of preparation, a short explanation of the differences in female anatomy, and a list of body-regions I'm not supposed to touch. Without wanting to take too much interest in your private life, but I would hazard a guess you didn't get such a list and you weren't asked to wear a condom for a blowjob. How much more obvious can you say 'don't expect too much'? Trust me, half the potential candidates will bow out when they learn that they don't even get to touch her boobs.”

“I thought you weren’t taking part anyway because of Hoshi,” the chief reminded him with a questioning glance.

“Hoshi and I wouldn’t work out anyway,” the Brit replied and was surprised how much disappointment was still present in his voice. “When T’Pol asked her if she would help with the more physical experiments, she came to me and basically gave me the choice to make my intentions toward her known before she made a decision.”

“And you managed to make the wrong one?” Trip asked in disbelief. “Malcolm, you’ve had a crush on Hoshi for almost a year.”

“Yeah, but that’s what it is – a crush. I thought since the time in the shuttlepod you’d know that I have problems to commit myself.”

The American shook his head. “Malcolm to me it looks as if you’d just not found the right one yet.”

“And therein lies the problem, Trip,” Malcolm replied dryly. “Unlike you, I _am_ stuck in eighteen-thirty. If I committed myself to a relationship, I’d need her all to myself and always around. And Hoshi isn’t that woman. First of all, she loves men and women. I’m perfectly okay with it and I’d probably be able to tolerate the odd lesbian fling here or there, but I couldn’t share her with anyone, not for long. And second, sooner or later this crew will be split all over the fleet when the new NX classes go into service. And I can definitely not live in a long-distance relationship. So why start something that would break our hearts at some point?”

“Are you listening to yourself?” the engineer asked. “Going by that definition, you’ll have to wait until retirement before you can start a relationship.”

“Spot-on, mate. I don’t know if your ambitions have changed, but I didn’t come aboard to stay a Lieutenant forever. One day I’ll make captain. And there is no way you can have a relationship aboard as the skipper. I won’t have any relationship to break off because I don’t start any to begin with.”

“I couldn’t do that,” Trip admitted, with a wistful expression on his face. “If I need to stay a Commander forever for the privilege of not having to sleep alone every night, then so be it.”

“Would be tragic if we’d all be the same wouldn’t it,” Malcolm said with an equally wistful half-smile.

-=/\=-

_ My hopefully not too unsettled mother, _

_ This time I need to record my reply as a spoken message as my vision has not yet recovered after the latest experiments. I have heeded your advice to repeat the experiments in permutations of differing partners. As welcome as your suggestion was, however, I had already come to the same conclusion before receiving your communique. I believe the results speak for themselves. Crewman Rostov, Lieutenant Hess and Lieutenant Reed have performed adequately, but the resulting climaxes did not even remotely reach the intensity I experienced before. I expect my vision to recover within the next ninety minutes, while Commander Tucker, and surprisingly Ensign Sato as well, can easily render me unsighted in excess of four hours. _

_ But before I continue discussing the results of my latest research, I wish to extend my congratulations on your betrothal. It is a most welcome development. Captain Archer has been allowed to divert the ship to Vulcan for a short period of time. However my visit will be limited to twelve hours at most as we are expected to investigate unusual neutrino emissions from a nearby trinary star system. We are expected to arrive on Vulcan in three days’ time. This should be ample time to summon a priest. Thankfully Vulcan marriage customs are not as complex as the human variety. _

_ As for your curiosity about the missing discomfort on my behalf when engaging in sexual relations with another female, I have researched the data from the human database that Captain Archer has authorized for use in my research. I might need to consider the possibility that I possess a differing sexual orientation that humans refer to as bi-sexuality. It would be the only logical explanation for the fact that I experience the same intimate comfort regardless of the gender of the respective partner. _

_ The inclusion of Lieutenant Hess was not initially planned, but I did so to find an answer to an unexpected finding. I noticed that sexual contact with ensign Sato evokes somewhat stronger sensations than the other two males who have participated in the experiment. To determine if this phenomenon was caused by ensign Sato’s identity or the fact of being with another female, I included Lieutenant Hess. My findings were quite conclusive. The contact with Lieutenant Hess was equal in intensity and comfort to that with Lieutenant Reed and Crewman Rostov. My working theory is that I possess a greater trust in ensign Sato as we have been close acquaintances for months – a relationship called friendship by humans. Any scientific advice on your behalf would be greatly welcome. I would also wish to inquire if you would consider a pool of two female and three males as sufficient number of test subjects as I would not wish to engage in intimacy with more partners than absolutely necessary. Commander Tucker seems to understand the necessity, but I do not wish to cause him any more emotional distress if avoidable.   _

_ I would wish to ask if you could research if there have been recorded cases of unions of between Vulcans of the same gender or even more than two mates. Of course I would not wish you to pursue this research if your security would be compromised. Due to the inherent risk in pursuing such thoughts in the light of current official doctrine, I would prefer to discuss any findings on the matter in person when I arrive on Vulcan. _

_ Your slightly impatient daughter. _

-=/\=-

Entering his old quarters, he closed the door manually to avoid the hiss of the automatic closing when he noticed that T’Pol was recording a message. Having made the same modifications to the environmental systems as he had done in hers, the temperature in his old home was at a more than cozy thirty degrees centigrade.

The ship’s science officer sat on the bunk, still naked and recorded her message. Seeing her unfocused glance, he realized that her eyesight was still gone, and he went over, sat next to her and brushed her left shoulder, their pre-arranged sign that it was him and that they were alone, which caused her to drop the blanket she had hurriedly draped around herself when the door had opened. Apparently the recording was finished, so he had only heard the last sentence, but that had sounded somewhat suspicious. He would later need to ask her about it. 

He leaned in and kissed her, but she kept the contact short. “Please, Charles, I had not yet had the chance to wash my mouth.”

“You’re still afraid I can’t cope with it, aren’t you?” 

She nodded. 

“T’Pol, if I became uncomfortable with it and asked you to stop it, would you stop your research?”

“Of course I would.”

“I haven’t done so, have I? So stop worrying about problems that don’t exist.” 


	11. What Ye Are About To Witness

The ship was nearing Vulcan with only ten hours remaining before they would reach the orbit, when the long awaited response of her mother arrived.

_My somewhat troublesome daughter,_

_To say that your latest results leave me speechless would be a fairly understated assessment and I believe we would do better to discuss the results of your research here on Vulcan._

_We have scheduled the witnessing ceremony for two standard hours after your arrival. If it is possible to arrange on such short notice, we would like to extend our invitation to your Commander Tucker and Ensign Sato. The latter is a linguist, is she not? She might find the ancient Golic spoken during the ceremony worth her study._

_Your somewhat impatiently waiting mother._

-=/\=-

A film costumer would probably be salivating Trip thought as Travis piloted the shuttle down. T’Pol was wearing the most spectacular robe he’d ever seen on a Vulcan – a dark burgundy arrangement with a semitransparent veil. He hoped that her mother had something equally amazing in her wardrobe, lest T’Pol hijack all the attention at the ceremony.

And Hoshi wasn’t in any danger to pale in comparison. For lack of any dress code regarding non-Vulcan guests at a Vulcan wedding they had decided that he would wear full dress uniform while Hoshi selected a traditional Japanese kimono and it looked spectacular on her well-sculpted slender body. It too was mostly red, a color that was predominant for clothing on T’Pol’s home world. Well, that meant he would probably stick out like a sore thumb with his mostly blue dress uniform.

Travis put the shuttle down expertly, and they started to leave through the hatch. Trip brought up the rear and gave the pilot a pat on the shoulder while the ensign was already running through the take-off checklist in order to return to the ship.

He had to smile a bit about Hoshi’s tripping gait. That Kimono did not exactly allow her to take big steps. He put his hand on the small of her back to stabilize her, receiving a grateful smile in return. Walking up the long stairs to T’Pol’s home was not exactly easy in the oppressive heat and gravity. Trip started to feel hot under his collar, but he soldiered on.

T’Pol opened the large gate for them. He had hoped to find something resembling trees or bushes inside for some shade, but his hopes were squashed when he saw that the whole courtyard was paved over and empty except for a large frame with a gong hanging from it and several statues. Two Vulcans were waiting for them, presumably her mother and her new groom.

What immediately struck him was how relatively young T’Pol’s mother looked. He knew that T’Pol was in her early sixties, so unless her mother had had her relatively early, the woman was about one hundred and twenty years old. He wondered if Vulcans aged at all. If she’d been human, he’d say she was about forty or fifty at most.  He fell back a bit behind T’Pol and Hoshi in the hope the two women would be greeted first, giving him some pointers as to what to do. How the normally so protocol-obsessed science officer had managed to forget briefing them on that, was a mystery.

His worries proved to be unwarranted as the Vulcan woman, after exchanging a few words in her native language with T’Pol, simply stuck out her hand to greet Hoshi first and then him. Since she was a scientist he should probably have expected that T’Pol’s mother was a bit more open to adapt to alien protocol. The Vulcan male was much more reserved and he followed T’Pol’s example of simply exchanging a silent nod with the man.

“You should follow us inside,” T’Pol’s mother instructed. “The outside is not an ideal place for a human so shortly after the height of summer. I have prepared refreshments.”

That was an invitation that didn’t need to be extended twice and Trip followed T’Pol inside, while their hosts brought up the rear. Not knowing what the customs were, he waited for T’Pol to guide him, even if his thirst was big enough to make him just run to the table and empty the whole pitcher of water. The science officer filled three glasses and handed two of them out to Hoshi and him. He took a little swig from it and waited what was coming next.

“You should not engage in false modesty,” her mother told him and Hoshi. “You should drink your fill. A human body loses fluids fast in this environment.”

Not needing to be told that twice, he and Hoshi downed the entire glass in one go, looking at each other somewhat abashed, despite the official invitation to do so. As soon as they had emptied their drinks, T’Pol refilled their glasses, her look successfully conveying that they better follow her mother’s advice.

-=/\=-

He had once said at P’Jem that for a species without emotions the Vulcans surely had a flair for the dramatic, a sentiment that had now and forever been reduced to absurdity. Not only did he know by now that Vulcans had in fact emotions in a dangerous abundance, the wedding ceremony had also been everything but dramatic.

It had taken all of five minutes. T’Pol’s mother and her groom had knelt in front of each other, a priest had put his hands on their faces and muttered something in a strange Vulcan dialect that reminded him of the ragged sound of Rostov’s Russian accent. And that was it – they were now husband and wife. Trip hadn’t expect any ‘kiss the bride’ part, but they’d gotten it over with as much passion as reading a shopping receipt. He wondered if the ceremony had been shortened to limit their time out in the open as the three of them seemed to be the only guests.

T’Pol had obviously caught his confusion. “The betrothal ceremony is somewhat more elaborate,” she explained. “The marriage ceremony is a mere formality. However, both of you will now be required to sign the witnessing document.”

Trip scribbled his signature on the paper, augmenting it with his name and rank in block letters. Hoshi did the same and the two newlyweds bowed to them in recognition before the newly minted husband excused himself, leaving them alone with T’Pol’s mother. Trip felt a slight uneasiness at the thought that she would certainly wish to discuss T’Pol’s research. His worries were proven true when the Vulcan addressed her daughter.

“Are Commander Tucker and Ensign Sato aware that you have shared your scientific data with me?”

“Of course, mother. I would not share such intimate recordings without their expressed permission. However, I wish to advise that you do not discuss the findings in too graphic detail as you certainly share my wish not to inconvenience our guests.”

“Of course, daughter. Some intimate details will however need to be shared,” T’Les said and directed her glance at him and Hoshi. “Are you willing to participate in such discussion? You are free to abstain from taking part in such an exchange.”

“It’s okay ma’am,” Trip said. “I’m aware that delicate details may come up. The nature of T’Pol’s research makes that sort of inevitable.”

Hoshi shared his sentiment and told T’Pol’s mother as much.

“Finding that she does experience equal comfort in intimate relations with both males and females, my daughter has asked me to research if there are prior examples of Vulcans with a homosexual or bisexual orientation, as humans call it,” the Vulcan explained and Trip saw a slight blush on Hoshi’s cheeks. “To my surprise I found an affirmative answer to this question. However, their fate does better remain untold.”

“Let me guess,” Trip snorted with a sarcastic mock-chuckle. “The High Command did not take too kindly to it.”

“You find this amusing?” T’Pol’s mother asked and he could hear a distinct undertone of displeasure in her voice. After all it meant that her daughter was in danger of being prosecuted.

“No ma’am, not at all,” Trip hurriedly reassured her. “It merely reminds me of ourselves. Humans weren’t much better until about a hundred fifty years ago. Two hundred years ago homosexual sex was still a punishable crime. People went to jail for it. But if it is any consolation for you, T’Pol will not face any such censure from humans in this day and age.”

“Most reassuring,” the Vulcan replied. “However the second question of T’Pol was answered negatively. There have never been any unions of more than two Vulcans.”

He felt Hoshi’s glance on him and then the young linguist looked at T’Pol. “Does that question concern me?” she asked.

“It does,” T’Pol explained. “It was asked to find an answer to why sexual contact with you and Commander Tucker differs substantially from any contact with other partners.”

“Um, I don’t want to hurt you or Trip,” Hoshi said slightly abashed. “But as much as I like to have sex with both of you, I don’t have any deeper feelings for either of you other than that you are my best friends.”

T’Pol’s mother raised an eyebrow. “May I hear your assessment of the situation, Commander Tucker?” she asked him.

“Well as far as I’m concerned I’m on the same page as Hoshi. She’s a very good friend, a beautiful woman, and I’m sure as hell not being inconvenienced when she touches me, but it’s not the same as being with T’Pol. And even if I can’t be sure, I would guess that T’Pol feels exactly the same. She merely tried to cover all theoretical options. As far as the difference to sex with Anna is concerned, I think there’s a very logical explanation for it.

“First of all T’Pol and Hoshi are very good friends to begin with, while she hardly knows Anna Hess at all. That means there is a completely different level of trust. And then there’s the little fact that for Vulcans the experience involves telepathy and I think Hoshi has some latent telepathic abilities. How else would she learn languages so quickly that she’s never heard before?”

“I believe Commander Tucker is correct,” T’Pol added and he thought he could see something akin to relief on her mother’s face. “I value Hoshi’s presence as a friend, but I do not possess the same affection towards her as I do towards the Commander.”

Trip was nearly bowled over by T’Pol’s statement, his heart beating almost painfully against his chest. The Vulcan had just admitted to her mother that she had feelings for him, even if it was in her usual roundabout Vulcan way of saying something without saying it directly.

T’Pol’s mother looked at him then at his daughter. “Have the two of you experienced instances where you had the impression that you knew the other’s thoughts or emotions?”

Trip laughed, but quickly caught his open display of emotions when T’Pol looked at him. “She does that all the time. Just now, T’Pol simply looked at me, and I know she isn’t best pleased that I showed emotions in front of you. I don’t know how I can tell, but I bet I’m right.”

“Is he?” the older Vulcan asked her daughter.

T’Pol blushed slightly, and confirmed his suspicion.

“In this case I might have the answer to your question T’Pol,” her mother said. “It appears that Commander Tucker and you are true _Ashayam_.”

“True soul-mates?” Hoshi asked with a gasp that made him wonder what kind of monumental thing he’d gotten himself caught up in this time.

“Indeed,” T’Les replied. “They seem to have bonded on their own.”

“Bonded?” Trip asked. The term bonding did of course exist in human terms as well, but he doubted that it would be as abstract a concept for Vulcans. Vulcans didn’t do abstract.

“A Vulcan bond is a psychic connection between mates. Images, emotions, even thoughts may be shared between them. Normally such a bond is created by a priest during a betrothal ceremony, which is why that ceremony is much more important than the wedding. Today’s ceremony was merely a confirmation that the bond has established successfully. I shall now live a year in seclusion with my mate for our bond to mature.

“However there are rare cases of bonds established between Vulcans without intervention of a priest. Such unions are considered exceedingly rare and desirable. They are the strongest known bonds. Before Surak brought logic to Vulcan, many Vulcans lost their lives in search of their _Ashayam_ , their true soulmate as Ensign Sato calls it. To prevent further loss of life, the tradition of arranged marriages was introduced.”

Trip looked over at T’Pol and Hoshi, who both looked in awe at the older Vulcan. Since neither seemed to be in a condition to provide any reply, he did.

“So, to put it in crude human words, I’m somehow telepathically tethered to T’Pol’s mind, right? And it’ll get stronger over the next year. But that begs one question. Shouldn’t something as intimate as connected minds make it practically impossible for either of us to be intimate with someone else without either of us going crazy?”

“A most adept observation, Commander. Even if your interpretation is indeed somewhat crude,” T’Pol’s mother explained. “Vulcan bonds normally preclude any intimate contact with anyone but one’s mate. However, in light of this finding there is an amendment I need to make to my answer to T’Pol’s scientific question. While I didn’t find any records of permanent unions between more than two Vulcans. There are recorded cases of Vulcan mates engaging in regular intimate contact with outside parties.”

“Let me guess,” Trip said. “You didn’t want to tell us about it before you were sure we had such a ‘true soulmate’ bond, because all the Vulcan swingers you found had one of those.”

“Swingers?” T’Pol and her mother asked in confused unison.

“A variation of human sexuality,” Hoshi provided. “It refers to committed couples, who regularly engage in sexual relations with outside parties with mostly no detrimental effect on their relationship. The number of acceptable outside partners is however very limited. In most cases it requires that all participating persons have a high amount of trust in each other.”

“A most fascinating parallel,” T’Les said. “There has to be a connection between this type of bond and the ability to engage in sexual relations without causing disturbance in the bond.”

“I think that’s easy to explain,” Trip said. “Some crude human thinking might help with that.”

Both T’Pol and T’Les raised a curious eyebrow in his direction. Even Hoshi looked expectantly at him.

“I don’t want to diminish the bond between you and your husband, ma’am,” he said, looking at T’Pol’s mother. “But you needed help to build it. T’Pol and I got the job done all by ourselves because we love each other. I think that means we are so confident in each other we wouldn’t need a bond to keep us together in the first place. It’s more like an added bonus.

“When T’Pol experiments with Hoshi, the thought doesn’t even occur to me that that Hoshi could steal her away even if she tried, which she doesn’t. You’ve probably seen the recording that Hoshi …um …helped me after one experiment. And as great as the experience was, the thought of replacing T’Pol with Hoshi didn’t occur to me once, because it was great, but not being-with-T’Pol-great. That make sense?”

Both Hoshi and T’Pol were blushing in their respective colors – crimson and green.

“It makes more sense than I initially expected, Commander.” T’Les confirmed.

He heard a distinct undercurrent of amusement in her voice. She was so much like her daughter.

“By the way,” he said, taking his chances with a grin. “Didn’t you say that establishing a bond is the same as a betrothal?”

“Indeed, Commander.”

“Well,” Trip said, now completely unapologetically grinning like an idiot. “That means there is a human custom I wish to observe. If you permit?”

“By all means, Commander,” T’Pol’s mother said.

“I didn’t think I would get to do this so soon,” he said, standing up and fishing a small object from his pocket. “But now is as good a time as any.”

Hoshi let out a surprised squeal when he went down on his knee in front of T’Pol and opened the small box revealing a ring inside it.

“T’Pol of Vulcan, light of my life and the most beautiful creature in the galaxy, will you bestow the honor upon me to become my wife?”


End file.
